Nobody Knows Me, 'Cause I'm Not Real
by DisneyLady824
Summary: I've been living in Forks ever since I was little, and not once did my parents tell me that my classmates would be in a book. Somebody please tell me that the Cullens are just playing a prank on a nobody for fun
1. People Don't Just Disappear

**A/N** This is my first Twilight fanfic ever! Yay! It makes me way excited to even think about posting it up for the world to see. Now, this is only really a test chapter (it is the real one though) but I just wanted to make sure that people were actually going to read it and review it before I continued to post chapters up. Basically, if it's even worth it, tell me so I can go on to the next chapter and the one after that and so on and so forth. I don't really want to be putting chapters up if nobody's even going to read them.

I've gone over this chapter a million times, but there's always something that gets missed. So if you would, that is if you actually read this, tell me if something's not right or there's some kind of error.

Please and Thank you!

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**Chapter One - People don't just disappear**

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I was a nobody. Completely invisible to the people around me. No one took the time to know of my existence and I had been living in the small town of Forks since I was a little girl. I never raised my hand during class, ate alone during lunch, and didn't go out on the weekends to First Beach like the rest of my high schooler acquaintances. I had a pretty good relationship with my parents, but they were never home and only really had time to give me my weekly allowance before jetting out of town for work purposes. The only friends I had been able to obtain, and keep, was my cat Nibbler and a few kids from the Indian reservation nearby, who I only occasionally ever saw. I really can't complain though, I enjoy all the time spent in isolation. No one telling me what to do, no listening to annoying gossip hot on the town, and especially no feuds between other girls because I happened to take a peek at their boyfriend. I was living a life of utter silence, and I loved it.

Both of my parents worked as doctors at a hospital in Olympia. Providence St. Peter Hospital, I believe. It was a pretty far commute, but they got paid good money (my father's a brain surgeon and my mother a spinal surgeon) and had the intense desire to buy things they didn't need. Flat screen TV's they never watched and expensive couches they rarely sat on.

This is where our story begins. With my butt on that expensive couch and my eyes glued to the flat screen TV.

**"Jeffrey, I can't explain it."**

**"Just try Elenore, please tell me what it is you have to say."**

There was a brief silence as the woman rubbed her arms. I leaned forward in anticipation.

**"I'm in love with your twin brother Jack."**

I laughed and turned to the small cat lying on the cushion next to me. "It's obvious they were in love with each other, Nibs. I mean, did you see the size of the diamond earrings he bought her for her birthday?"

The lousy soap opera continued on and I shoved another handful of Fritos into my mouth, catching the few that fell onto my lap. Nibbler stretched on her side and started cleaning the fur on the back of her paw. I sighed and tossed one of the corn chips up into the air and tried to catch it in my mouth. It missed, bounced on my knee, and landed on the tan carpeted floor.

I stared at it as if it could magically grow legs and come back to its rightful place in the palm of my hand. It wasn't moving, and I definitely didn't want to have to reach all the way down to get it. My cat paused in her self cleaning and she gazed down at the chip for a few seconds before resuming what she had been doing. I glanced at Nibbler and shook my head.

"We're too lazy Nibbles. Look at us, not even able to get a chip off the floor."

I clucked my tongue at her and pushed the little red button on the DVR remote, cutting off the declarations of love from Elenore as the screen went black. I paused momentarily before turning the TV back on and changing the channel to SyFy in the middle of a _'As Seen on TV' _commercial. I groaned as I reached down to get the Frito and held it on my open palm as I stumbled towards the kitchen. I tossed the chip into the garbage and jumped up onto the island in the center of the kitchen. I puffed my cheeks out and wiggled my nose. The clock on the microwave said it was nearing eight-thirty. I slapped my hands on my thighs and called to Nibbler.

"Kitty! Dinner!"

The tiny tortoise shell cat sprinted into the kitchen and jumped to the empty counter space next to me. I rubbed her ears and she immediately started purring up a storm. After jumping off the counter, I pulled open the pantry door and went inside to get to get her dinner. I returned with a can of Friskies and pulled the top off before using a spoon to scoop out half the can into her empty bowl. I slid the food over to her and glanced out the window to the weather outside.

Rain. That's all it really ever did in Forks. Cloudy weather and rainy skies was what I lived in day and night. I watched a couple raindrops fall down the glass from the darkness beyond it before slouching over to the fridge and perusing the items inside. My fingers tapped at the dirty white door handle before I reached in and pulled out the half empty jug of milk. I set it down on the counter and scrounged around in the pantry before climbing onto one of the shelves and shoving cans of green beans and carrots aside to get to the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that my father tried to hide from me.

After filling the bowl completely up with cereal and milk, I took careful steps back to the couch. I glanced up at the TV and grew excited to see Steve and Tango from Ghost Hunters gracing the screen. I gave an excited squeak and quickly sat down, spilling milk onto the floor in front of me. I shrugged down at the wetness.

"I'll clean it up later. Right now, it's time for some ghost hunting."

Wednesday nights were my kind of nights. Ghost Hunter marathons and new episodes when it was time for a new season. I scooped up a spoonful of cereal and crammed the large amount of cinnamon goodness into my mouth, wiping up the milk that dripped down my chin with my shoulder. The house phone rang and I glanced at it before scanning for the remote, hoping to hit pause. I located it on the edge of the couch and reached for it. Nibbler jumped up onto the cushion at that exact moment and I watched as the gray remote fell to the floor. I made a face at my cat and looked once more at the electronic device shrieking in my ears.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Machine'll get it."

I ignored the phone and continued to watch as Steve ducked down from a bat flying overhead. I laughed at him as he shied away from the animal that was dive bombing him. The answering machine finally picked up the call.

"_Sweetheart, it's your father. I know, calling at nine o'clock at night is a reoccurring event, but something's come up._"

The serious tone in my dads voice had me stooping down to reach for the remote to pause my show and then stare at the small speaker next to the telephone.

"_I don't know how to say this, but, there's been an accident._"

I almost dropped my cereal bowl, just barely managing to set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"_Your mother has got a marble stuck up her nose._"

I blankly stared where my fathers voice was coming out and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

_"Now, Honey, don't do that-"_

_"Sweetie."_

I grinned and jumped up to get the cordless phone after hearing my mothers voice. "Tell dad he seriously needs to get a new hobby."

_"It was just a bit of fun-"_ I could hear my father say in the background as I slumped back down onto the couch.

_"What your father should have been telling you,"_ I could hear a loud yelp come from the other end of the line. _"Was that we're not going to make it home tonight like planned."_

I rolled my eyes.

_"Don't roll your eyes at me Finley."_

I lifted the phone from my ear and looked at it incredulously. I still couldn't figure out how she did that. "Sorry, but it_ has _been expected since I was old enough to take care of myself."

_"I know, and I'm sorry we're not home more often."_

_"Deathly sorry." _Came from my dad.

_"There was a bus accident outside of Lacey and the Hospital's short staffed tonight. We need to stay and help out."_

I sighed loudly, hoping to incite some kind of guilt from my mother."It's ok. You guys go and be the magical life savers that you are while I stay at home and watch reruns of soap operas."

_"Oh, Finley... I thought Ghost Hunters was on tonight?"_

I glared at the TV. "Yep. It is, and you're interrupting my personal family time with the TAPS team."

I heard her chuckle. _"Ok, I get it. You can get back to the weirdos that keep you company on Wednesday nights."_

"Mom! They're not weirdos." I heard muffled laughter from my mom's side of the conversation. "Smack dad for me!"

_"Ow!"_

I grinned at the sound. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some funky noises and freaky happenings to be getting to."

_"Wait one more moment before you go gallivanting off into that craziness you call your mind. I left you a surprise on the table this morning. Did you get it?"_

"Umm..." I leaned over the back of the couch to see the table that was supposed to be for family meals. Instead, it was stacked high with paper work, four years worth of Christmas cards, dirty dishes, and many other assorted things. "Which end of the table did you put it on?"

_"I think it was the end closest to the back door?"_

I raised my eyebrows at the mess and stretched my neck farther to see the other end of the table. By this time I was hanging off the back of the couch. "Was that a question, or a definite answer?"

_"Why don't you get off your lazy butt and find out."_

I scoffed as I leaned the rest of the way off the couch and fell to the floor behind it with a loud **'**_**thud**_'.

_"Finley? Are you alright? Did you fall off the couch again? Is anything bleeding?"_

I groaned and rubbed my hip with a sour look on my face. "I'm fine, Momma. Nothing's bleeding. Might have a bruise on my side tomorrow, though." I was quiet for a few seconds as I approached the mess on the table. "And I'm _not _lazy."

My mother laughed at me. _"Oh, really. Do you happen to remember the time I asked you to do chores when your father and I were going to be gone for two weeks to Florida."_

I pretended to not know what she was talking about as I scattered unopened letters across the floor from the tabletop.

_"You never even touched the dishes in the sink. You could have at least put them in the dishwasher after you were done with them, but no, what did you do?"_

I held the phone between my shoulder and ear and flipped through some old recipes. "Left 'em in the sink to rot for all eternity?"

_"No... Well, technically yes, you did, but you hired a maid to do all the work for you! That poor lady had to come all the way from Seattle just to clean up your nasty messes when you could've done it yourself."_

"Gah... just thinking about those dishes makes me gag. And hey! I paid that maid good money. I think I might've bought her a new TV." I sucked on my bottom lip and pulled an old book from underneath a shirt that looked like one I owned when I was in the sixth grade. "I think I found what you left me. Is it a book?"

My mother squealed. _"Yes! A man was selling books out on the street corner a couple blocks from where your father and I get lunch and I figured, hey, my Finny loves to read, why not get her a book?" _

I fingered the worn leather of the cover and quickly flipped through the pages. It had actual handwriting written on the torn pages. I lightly ran my fingertips over the black ink and let my mind refocus on my mothers words.

_"-nd it's handwritten! Isn't that exciting. The man said something about it being a true story. I knew you loved reading, so I figured I'd get it for you. Strange thing though..."_

I resituated the phone from my shoulder to my right hand, the left still flipping through pages as it lay on the table. "What's strange?"

_"Well, I wanted to get you another book, something for you for staying home alone a lot. I turned back after paying to see what else he had and... he wasn't there."_

I let the cover of the book close. "Mom, people don't just disappear."

_"I know, and if I hadn't had that book in my hands at that moment, I would have thought I had gone completely crazy."_

I picked the book up and carried it with me back to the couch.

"Hmm... Interesting."

_"I know. Anyways, read that and tell me what you think of it. If I can find that guy again I'll get you another one. Right now I need to get going. The buses are finally here and the crash victims are being brought in and your father's getting antsy to run to see what's going on."_

"S'ok, mom. I'll talk to you when you get a break."

_"Ok, Sweetie, love you."_

"Love you, too. Bye."

"_Bye."_

I let the silent phone fall onto the couch, only glancing down as I heard it drop onto the TV remote. I tilted my head curiously at the book in my hands and once again let the pages fall from the front cover to the back. The slight breeze that blew my shoulder length hair away from my face faintly smelled of freesia.

I scratched at my chin and flung the old novel over the back of the couch and onto its cushions. "I'll read you lat-Nibbler! NO!"

Scrambling over the couch, I stepped on the remote, which made the TV start playing Ghost Hunters again, and rushed to get the bowl of soggy cereal away from the small cat that had lifted its milky chin to look at me when I screamed.

"Dammit Nibbles... Now I need new cereal."

I was too preoccupied with my cat and bowl that I didn't notice that when I had tossed the book, its cover flipped open to reveal the tiny script written on the very first page.

_**Twilight**_


	2. Welcome to Hell, Cullens

**A/N:** I figured I might as well put out another chapter just so that I can get the story rolling. This ties in with the first one (and helps with the cliffhanger, as Liv. The. Night. Writer. mentioned.) and gives it just a bit more. Thanks to those who reviewed so far, and hopefully you will continue reading.

I've already got the third chapter in the making, it won't come out for a while though (I have to give you something to look forward too) :) .

Please take the time to leave a review and tell me how I'm doing. Reviews make me extremely happy.

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**Chapter Two - Welcome to Hell, Cullens**

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'"_**Who are **_**they**_**?" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.**_

_**As she looked up to see who I meant – though already knowing, probably, from my tone – suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes flickered to mine.**_

_**He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face held nothing of interest – it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.**_

_**My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.**_

_**"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her brea-' **_

_**-Twilight, Chapter One, Pages 19-20**_

I choked on my frozen strawberry poptart.

Coughing, I pat my chest and tried to dislodge the cold breakfast pastry. From glancing at the mirror placed on the wall across from me, I saw that my face had gone to a deep shade of red as I eventually spit out the now soggy bite of strawberry-ness.

After finally getting the rest of the obstacle out of my airway, I threw my half-eaten poptart down on my paper towel and snatched up the journal. I reread the lines on those last two pages before continuing on to the next few. I blinked down at the book.

I had completely bypassed the town of Forks in the story. Skipped over the name Charlie Swan (_the_ Police Chief in Forks). Left out the fact that the office lady had red hair and glasses. Forgot about the teachers named Mr. Mason and Mr. Varner. I also blocked out the one male students name this Bella Swan had mentioned: Eric. The only thing I had focused on was the Cullen/Hale family.

I was completely flabbergasted. I hurriedly flipped to the front of the book, almost tearing the pages out as I went. I studied the first page, inspecting it for some kind of note from my mother explaining that this was a joke. There was nothing written there except the word, '_Twilight'._

Silently, I let the cover fall back to its rightful place on top of all the other pages. I casually scratched at the dark brown faded cover, lightly peeling at one of the rips in the leather on the right corner. My eyes wandered to my pink poptart before I quickly grabbed a hold of the book, imagining that it would suddenly disappear. After examining the book front to back, furiously turning the pages, hoping to find some kind of clue as to why the Cullen family was mentioned in my new novel, I sat and stared down at what I thought was a practical joke.

Maybe my mother had thought it would be funny to get someone to write a book about the Cullen family. Maybe my father talked her into it as an April Foo'ls prank. I glanced at the calendar that was currently hanging up above the wooden pegs where my car keys and other assorted random keys (ones that even my parents didn't know went to) were held. The picture of a half naked faerie wrapped in a blanket of fire indicated that it was the month of August. The 23rd to be exact.

I frowned down at my lap and thought back to when the Cullens had first made their appearance at Forks High School two years ago.

* * *

_I sat on the hood of my (recently my mothers) old, powder blue suburban, reading the latest in the Fablehaven world. My dark jean covered legs were crossed and my right hand was currently preoccupied with shoving a granola bar into my mouth, the other was holding onto the top of the hard cover book._

_"So, have you heard about the family that just moved in?"_

_I glanced up to the picnic table four feet away from me to see Jessica Stanley leaning forward over her lunch tray, looking like she was about to blow. Lauren Mallory waved her hand for Jessica to continue as she checked her lipstick in the mirror of her dark purple compact._

_I flicked a crumb from my thigh and continued reading._

_"Apparently they moved here from Alaska and they're all gorgeous!"_

_I rolled my eyes at the squeal that erupted from the gossips mouth._

_"I went to give my mom her purse the other day at her work, she's always forgetting things, and saw one of them at the hospital, and oh. My. God! I've never seen something more hot and delicious looking then the man standing at the nurse's station."_

_I snorted and covered it with a cough, pretending to clear my throat._

_"My mom managed to chat him up a bit, she's sooo lucky. Anyways, she found out that his names Carlisle Cullen and he just barely managed to land a job at the hospital as a doctor. He's, sadly, got a wife though. But..."_

_I flipped to the next page and looked at the table over the top of my book. Jessica was twitching in her seat and Lauren had finally snapped her compact shut to look at her friend. I took notice to Angela Weber sitting next to Jessica, her hand flying across her notebook with a pencil glued between her fingers. I felt sorry for her as the dark, curly haired girl she sat with finally burst, loudly and expressively, I might add, making her hand jerk across the paper._

_"They've got five kids!" Jessica's hands were flung out and one hit Angela in the arm, making her hand, as previously mentioned, go across her history essay, leaving a large dark line to appear behind the writing utensil._

_"All adopted and all in high school too! If they're as gorgeous as their father," here she swooned. "Then I think we'll be in heaven."_

_Lauren smirked. "Why haven't they enrolled yet?"_

_I was wondering the same thing as I turned another page in my book. I think I'd like to get a look at the people Jessica Stanley was now obsessed with._

_"My mom said they were supposed to come in today to get their schedules and work out a few things with the principle."_

_Angela looked up from carefully erasing the mark on her paper. "What kind of things?"_

_Jessica shrugged. "Not entirely sure, something about camping trips when it's nice out. Hey, maybe that's where they went this morning. It was sunny with clear blue skies earlier. Maybe they went on a hike?"_

_My eyes flickered up and I scowled at the gray clouds as they slowly moved across the sky. With the way they were getting darker, I'd imagine it would start raining soon._

_Lauren took a sip out of her bottled water. She looked like she was getting bored with Jessica's chatter. "Maybe. Or maybe they just decided that Forks wasn't really what they thought it was. It really isn't that great, you know."_

_One of my eyebrows shot up. Since when did Lauren Mallory diss Forks, Washington. I mean, I knew it was a rinky-dink little town, but in the half of a year I've heard her converse with people, I'd never heard her go against the place she grew up in. I sighed softly as the freshman continued to wonder why the Cullens weren't here at this exact moment._

_Just as I took a bite out of one of the cookies I had packed for myself, the dull roar of an engine filled the school's parking lot. A red Jeep Wrangler pulled into a spot not too far from where I sat and I couldn't help but spit out the chocolate chip cookie I had just put into my mouth as the driver stepped from the vehicle._

_Jessica Stanley hadn't been lying when she said Carlisle Cullen was gorgeous._

_His golden hair swayed as the wind slightly picked up and his amber eyes danced from face to face around the picnic tables that were spaced across the grass of the school yard. Everybody had stopped talking as soon his car had parked. I think just about everybody died when the other doors finally swung open to reveal the teenagers that would be finishing their educational careers in Forks High School._

_There really was no other way to explain the Cullen teens other then the following words; Dazzling, glorious, elegant, alluring, beautiful, glamorous, tantalizing, mouth watering, drop-dead gorgeous, enchanting... I could seriously go on here._

_I blinked and they were all suddenly walking towards the office behind Mr. Cullen. There were three boys. One was tall and lean with wild honey blond hair. He walked with a sort of hunched over gait, and his eyes were _almost_ nervously flicking back and forth at all the kids. The second had bronze colored hair. His god like face would smirk occasionally as he took a particular interest in one person or another, momentarily studying their open mouthed expressions. The last male was built like a body builder. I'm not talking the humongous bulging muscles you see on TV, no his muscles were more subtle then that, but obvious enough that you didn't want to mess with him. His arm was thrown over one of the Cullen females shoulders, his fingers tapping to an unknown beat. His short compact curls were dark and I noticed the playful look on his face as he silently laughed at a couple guys who were becoming increasingly intimidated by the family. Especially him._

_The last two Cullens were female. Obviously by the look most of the boys were giving them, they were absolutely breathtaking. The first was short, shorter then me even, with dark hair spiked out in every direction. Her hand was clasped tightly to the tall blond male, her thumb softly running circles on the back of his hand as if she were reassuring him. The other female was even more beautiful then the darker haired one. She also looked almost identical to the blond male. This one had long curly blond hair, and with the soft curves of her face, she could've been a supermodel. Even though they all could have been walking down a runway right at this moment, it was her even more so that could do it. Her arm was curled around the waist of the large playful looking boy (who really looked like he should have been in college). I bit my lip as I peeked over the top of my book at the girls' outfits. They were obviously fashion experts, considering the Jimmy Choo shoes the shorter one was wearing and the Dolce and Gabbana leather jacket the taller one had zipped halfway up._

_I was suddenly very uncomfortable with my holey jeans, Dr. Pepper t-shirt, and last years Forks High School hoodie._

_Nobody made a sound as the family walked passed where I was sitting, me just barely glimpsing the topaz colored eyes that not only Mr. Cullen owned, but the rest of them also. They were walking only a couple feet from me when I looked down to see my spat out cookie plastered to the 105th page of my Fablehaven book._

_"Shit." I muttered, and quickly tried to wipe away the mess._

_I glared down at the page when I, all of a sudden, had the urge to look up. Two of the family members had glanced over at me. The large male had a smirk on his face as if he were laughing at me and the tall blond girl looked on in disgust._

_Jeez, I knew I hadn't put any makeup on today and my hair was a complete mess, but I didn't think I entirely looked that bad._

_They went on with their business towards the office, and once they had finally gotten inside and the doors were firmly shut, the school yard became very noisy. There were several squeals, girlish giggles, and excitement about the new students._

_I blankly stared at them all. I saw Mike Newton slap Tyler Crowley on the shoulder, insisting that the pixie-like girl had given him a sexy smile. I rolled my eyes and put it off as it just being Mike, the very first ladies man of the freshmen class._

_"What did I tell you? Aren't they just...to die for!"_

_My eyes shot over to Jessica as she clasped her hands together over her heart. Lauren was licking her lips and gazing in the direction of the Front Office with a look in her eyes that seemed, dare I say it, that she was in complete ecstasy. _

_All the girls, and even some of the boys, around the school yard and parking lot looked that as if they were to die today, that they would die _very_ happy._

_Welcome to hell, Cullens._

* * *

The slamming of the front door knocked me out of my reverie.

"Honey?" My mother's voice called to me

I glanced down at the journal and my now not so frozen poptart. "Yeah?"

"We're home!" My father shouted as he entered the kitchen. He froze in front of the fridge, his tie hanging loosely from his neck and my moms black briefcase dangling from his fingertips.

I cautiously looked behind me to see what he was staring at before remembering there was only a wall behind me. I turned my head and peered anxiously up at him.

"What?"

"Fish," There went the nickname, here comes the joke. "Why are you sitting on the floor?"

"...Huh?"

Where was the obnoxious dirty joke he had been told at work. Where were the mean names that were thrown out casually for us to make fun of after hearing it shouted at one another. Where was the love!

"And why are you still in your PJ's?"

I glanced down at myself. I was, indeed, still in my pajamas that consisted of an old college t-shirt of my dads and a pair of my plaid flannel sleep pants. I looked back up into the aquamarine eyes I had gained from my father and shrugged in confusion.

"Why? Am I not supposed to be sitting on the floor in my pajamas? Is this going to be some kind of rule? Am I in trouble?" My voice grew slightly panicky.

My mother finally walked in at the end of the word 'trouble.' She only briefly looked down at me in amusement before taking her coat off and throwing it over the kitchen counter.

"Why are you on the floor, Sweetheart?" She asked softly. I watched her open a few cupboards, pulling out several food items, before answering.

"There's nowhere to sit at the table."

My dad scoffed and I gave him a funny look. He looked at me cross eyed before rolling them.

"Ok, now that the mystery of the floor seating has been solved; Why are you still in your PJ's?"

My mother brushed a few of her stray brown hairs, ones that had fallen from her loose bun, away from her face and gazed over the counter to hear my answer.

"Cause I just woke up about an hour ago." I replied, taking a peek at the clock nearest me.

Both of my parents just laughed and continued on with what they were previously doing. My father to hang up the coats and my mother to make them some lunch. Yes, lunch. It was now nearing two in the afternoon.

I sighed and poked at the leather book in my lap. My parents never really made any rules or guidelines for me to follow. Well, none other then 'No boys in the house when alone,' and 'Don't take candy from strangers.' That was about it. My parents were more of the friendly non rule giving type then they were the strict parent type. I didn't even have a bed time on school nights because my parental units were never there to enforce it. Of course, I usually do get to bed somewhere between eleven and midnight, because I seriously don't want a detention for sleeping in class. Especially during my upcoming senior year.

"How's the book?"

I glanced up to give my mother a suspicious look. She smiled down at me and impatiently gestured with hers peanut buttery knife towards my lap.

I shrugged. "I've only really gotten a chapter into it... Why?"

My mother blinked before saying, "I was just wondering. Is it interesting so far? Am I going to need to get you another from the same author?"

I glared down at the book. "Stupid thing doesn't even have an author."

My mother frowned and sprinkled sugar onto her bread before sticking the two pieces of peanut buttered whole grain bread together. "Are you sure? Did you check the back to see if any of the pages have been glued together?"

"I'm pretty certain I've looked this thing over good."

I was absolutely sure I had checked every square inch of the annoying book.

My father returned to the kitchen, stealing a bite from my mother's sandwich.

"School starts next week, Fish. You gonna bring anybody home at all this year? Gonna have any friends?"

I stood up and tossed the journal onto the dinner table and then reached down to clean up my breakfast mess. "Not if I can help it."


	3. I've Got You Now, Cullen Family

**A/N - **I know, I took forever to get the next chapter out. I was having a few problems with it, but finally told myself to buckle down and get it done. I'm also going to be busy with my senior paper for the next few weeks so this story will most likely be put on hold once again. I'm terribly sorry about that. I'll try and get the next chapter finished before too long. If I take forever, like I did with this one, I give you full permission to scold me for it.

Thanks for reviewing - **bellaroxursocx**

**Also, if you find any kind of error, whether it be grammatical, spelling, or even something about the book Twilight, please let me know so I can fix it right away. Thanks!**

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**Chapter Three - I've got you now, Cullen family**

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Several months had passed; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years long gone, and I completely forgot all about the book called _Twilight._ After throwing it onto the table, it was lost in the big mess we officially started calling _The Land of the Forgotten _in my eight grade year. This was mainly because anything that got put down onto the table, was immediately sucked into, beneath, and twisted around the various items stacked upon it. And was then immediately forgotten about.

The dining room table we owned was actually a table big enough for six. My family only consisted of me, my mother and my father. That's only three people. And considering that I'm the only one home enough to actually use the cherrywood tabletop, everything just got piled up onto it. I ate my meals in the living room in front of the TV most of the time anyway, so it never really bothered me.

That is, until I lost a five page English essay due the next morning on the damn thing.

School had started up once again and I found that my senior year at Forks High School was my easiest one yet. Just as long as I turned in the minimal amount of homework given in the classes, I would be home free for graduation at the end of May.

I ruffled through a bunch of my mothers paperwork, I knew it was hers because of the name _Julie Weston _signed at the bottom, and didn't even bother trying to read the illegible handwriting.

"Come on, where are you?"

This table seriously needed to be cleaned off more often. I picked up an envelope of family vacation photos and slid them across the kitchen counter; my mother had been looking everywhere for those. I quickly wadded up a set of orange bed sheets and threw them on the pulled out chair next to me. Nibbler jumped up onto the sheets and settled herself down to watch my quest for the missing essay.

I glimpsed her out of the corner of my eye and pat her on the head once, her nose reaching for my fingers, before going back to what was currently occupying my mind.

"The one paper I don't procrastinate on and I've lost it. Lo-ve-ly."

Nibbler took that moment to jump into the mess and run across everything to try and catch a fly resting on the wall the table sat against. She knocked several things down off the table in the process, making a loud clanging noise. I glared at her and kneeled down to pick everything back up.

"Sock, medical book, penci- Ooo a dollar." I slipped the bill into my pocket and continued on. "Cookie sheet – so that's what made so much noise – home movie... Evil book?"

I studied the journal my mother had bought me many months previously. The cover was still worn down and the yellowed pages still smelled of freesia. I now had the intense desire to read farther along in the book then I originally had. I left everything else still laying on the floor and let my body flop onto the couch. I folded my legs underneath myself before opening the book and flipping to where I had last left off.

My English essay could wait to be found till later, this thing needed to be read _now_.

* * *

I finished the journal in no time. It took maybe four hours, five tops, to completely get through the whole thing. This was including bathroom breaks and the time it took to make lunch. I'm only slightly sorry that I got mustard on page 305.

After getting to the last page, I think I have an understanding as to what was wrong with the Cullen family. They had some serious problems to start out, but everything started connecting in my mind and it all made sense. For the first time since I'd first seen the beautiful teenagers enter the school yard two years ago, I could finally get a grip on who they were.

The Cullen's were a family of vampires.

First thing I did after Bella figured that out was to give a low whistle and say to myself, "No wonder."

They couldn't be in school on clear, cloudless days because their skin sparkled. They literally glittered when under the rays of sunlight. I now knew why they always gave the excuse that they were hiking and camping during these time periods. Of course, they were never actually doing either of these activities. They were either at home or out hunting animals. I figured that after reading the part where Bella explained how she noticed certain things about Edward, about how she realized he was a vampire, I thought they'd be drinking_ human _blood. Not _animal_ blood.

I was wondering where the deer, the ones that usually appeared in my backyard in the mornings, had disappeared to. At least I knew now. They called themselves vegetarians, and the reason all of their eyes were topaz colored was because of this. Vegetarians had gold eyes, carnivores had red ones. I'll never be going anywhere near a person with red eyes ever again, contacts or not. I seriously don't want to die when I just barely turned eighteen a couple months ago.

I guess the reason why Jasper Hale looks as if he's in extreme pain during class time is because he's still new to the Cullen diet. I sit next to him in English, and since we're in the back of the class and in the far corner, he always edges his body away from me and the boy that sits in front of him. I could never determine if it was my breath or my clothes that stank enough for him to shift away. Now that I knew it was my blood, and everybody else's in the room, calling out to him, practically yelling, "Drink me! I taste good!" I will no longer be trying to force a paper cut so the nurse will have to give me one of the Power Rangers band-aides I know she has stashed in her office.

Rosalie Hale was inhumanly gorgeous. Yes, all of them had an undeniable beauty to them, but Rosalie's facial features and body type just scream, "Look at me, I'm the next Top Model!". I had to stand in front of her in P.E. last year, and even in the required ugly gym uniform, she stood out among the rest of us regular looking human beings. She tried to stay as far away from the rest of the class as much as it was allowed before Coach Clapp gave her a death glare. She usually gave one back, and he would immediately forget about the whole thing. It was almost as if he were afraid of the way she stood tall and looked down on everybody. She acted like she was better then everyone else. I don't know where she got this trait from, because her boyfriend didn't seem to act that way.

Emmett Cullen, while scary and mean looking, was like a giant, cuddly teddy bear. I'd seen Rosalie soften with just one of his hugs, and I often glimpsed Alice giggling away from his grasp in the parking lot. He was a big jokester, always letting out deep rumbling laughs over things that normally wouldn't be funny. Last week Mike Newton nervously edged his way past him and his brother Edward, somehow managing to smack his head on an open locker as he tried to get away. Emmett chuckled for ten minutes after seeing the junior's embarrassed expression.

Alice Cullen was a tiny sprite-like girl that had a _major _problem with shopping. Every day I saw her in a new, cute, top of the line outfit. I never saw her wear anything more then once. Her hair was always pointing in every direction and her face lit with a smile towards anyone she glanced at. She was the most approachable in the Cullen family. She also, according to my new book, could see the future. Apparently she's been watching the stocks for years, making the family fortune grow when the need arose. Knowing when something bad was going to happen, she changed certain events so everything would play out differently. I'd never actually been physically close to Alice, but after reading about what she could do, I realized that she sometimes helped make things happen to students whenever she saw something that would brighten their day.

The last of the Cullen teens was Edward. The one who would brood silently during lunch time and glare at anybody who mentioned something bad about his family while he was in ear shot. People quickly learned that he knew everything before anyone said anything. It was like he could read their minds. After scanning the book, I've finally got the truth about him. He actually _could_ read minds. I'd thought plenty of revolting things while in his presence, and yet he'd never turned to give me a dirty look. Maybe he was blocking me out after hearing my thoughts on what I envisioned about Mr. Banner's obsessive cleaning of his turtle collection.

I'd never manged to get within touching distance of either Dr. Cullen, or his wife Esme. The closest I'd been to Mrs. Cullen was when she came to pick up her kids from school from time to time. She'd look at them maternally and I'd mentally think about how she'd ask how their day had been. Dr. Cullen, or Carlisle as he'd once insisted my dad to call him, was a compassionate man who worked at Forks Hospital. He often had conversations with my parents over the phone, them asking him his opinions of doctor/patient stuff, and him advising them on what they needed to do. Even with him looking extremely younger then my age forty parents, they still admired his need to help the injured or unhealthy.

At this point in time, I'd been staring at the journal for over an hour. My thoughts of the Cullen family coming and going faster then a calculator could calculate an equation. I blew out a breath and shook my head in disbelief. After reading through the yellowed pages, the facts jumped out and slapped me in the face. I considered all the traits and habits that the Cullens exhibited, and my mind was having trouble comprehending that they could be vampires. They could, in fact, be mythological creatures. _Or_ my imagination could just be playing tricks on me and turning a human being who doesn't eat lunch into a blood sucking monster.

I needed to study them, watch them, and take note of how they did things. I really needed to prove this book wrong.

* * *

It took me less then a week to realize that I would be able to debunk the things the journal had mentioned easier then I would have thought. I watched the Cullens for three days straight, and they didn't really do many things that were unusual. Jasper still leaned away from me in English, Emmett still laughed loudly as his siblings said something that wasn't funny, Alice still danced down the hallways, Rosalie still glared at anybody with any shred of beauty, and Edward still smirked at random people that gazed at their table during lunch.

They did nothing even remotely inhuman.

Well, that is, until I caught Emmett not breathing for fifteen minutes. I'd been staring at him during American Government, my teacher taking no notice to me not paying attention, and was focused on the way his chest never moved. I had first taken the time to try not to breath too much or too fast myself, just to see if I could get my chest to stop moving like his did. After several tries, all of them failures, I held my breath. I finally managed to get my breathing the same as his. Or not breathing, if you want to put it that way. My eyes went wide and I quietly gasped.

The curly haired boy looked over to my side of the room, his gaze just barely grazing over my staring form. He turned his attention back to the front of the room before he realized what was going on. He took a second glance over at me and then paused, staring in confusion. I figured that he had no entire clue who I even was. Well, he was about to find out.

We stared at each other for a few moments. He didn't even break away when Mrs. Heedler asked him a question. He just answered the question and continued staring back at me. He probably thought we were contestants in a staring contest. I needed to fix that.

I took a deep breath, motioning the way my body moved as I did so. He looked slightly perturbed. This was when I watched his eyes widen and I saw him take his first breath in twenty minutes. I glanced at our government teacher and saw that she was busy explaining something on the white board. I turned my attention back to Emmett. He looked at me uneasily.

I held my hand up, spreading my fingers to indicate five, before clenching them closed and opening them again. I did this two more times and mouthed the words, 'Twenty minutes. You never took a breath.'

It looked as if he couldn't understand me. I rolled my eyes and, as quiet as I could, I whispered, "You didn't breath for twenty minutes... I know what you are."

I knew he had heard me, even from across the room, because he suddenly looked very worried. I smirked at him and tuned in to Mrs. Heedler's explanation. For the rest of the period, Emmett was constantly looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

I've got you now, Cullen family.


	4. I'm Completely Screwed

**A/N - **I'm really sorry for it took so long for me to get this chapter out. I've had some major writers block (which happens quite frequently, actually) and wasn't able to write anything. Not even for my other fics. Hopefully I've still got readers willing to read at least one more chapter. Let's pray that I get the next one out quicker then this one.

**Reviews - **

**alilesixteen -** Sorry for not writing religiously so you could review religiously. Hopefully I'll do better in the future. Bella hasn't arrived just yet. It's getting close though, so expect to see her sometime soon.

**bellaroxursocx**

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**Chapter Four - I'm completely screwed**

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I had to withstand half an hour of waiting for the final bell to ring. Thirty minutes where a certain dark haired, muscled, wannabe teenager was continuously glancing at me from across the room. I tried to stay focused on Mrs. Heedler. Really, I did, but Emmett's constant looks had me nervously fidgeting in my seat.

I had a feeling that he was going to corner me after class. Block me in somewhere to figure out how I knew what I knew. I was planning on making a run for it as soon as that bell rang. If, by chance, that he does catch me (I mean, come on, he _is_ a vampire), I really hoped I didn't blurt out a random fact like I was known to do when I was extremely nervous.

Ever since I was seven years old I'd been known to blurt random gibberish when I was nervous or excited. I had no clue why I did it and neither did my parents. Half the time the stuff I say I didn't even know I knew. All the information was familiar though. It was like I'd seen it on TV and my brain stored it for those moments where I was feeling awkward. I had a cousin and an uncle, both from my moms side of the family, that also did it, so we figured I got it from her. Over the last year my fact vomit had slowed down considerably, but I occasionally still spouted out little blurbs about things.

I swallowed apprehensively and glanced at the clock. Two minutes until the bell rang. I gathered my things quickly and quietly before sitting silently and staring at the round mechanical thing with numbers painted on it. I could feel fierce eyes gazing at the side of my head and had the sense to not look at Emmett Cullen. One look at him and I would be shaking in my size eight Converse All Stars.

Maybe I shouldn't have made it known right away that I knew what him and his family of models were. I probably should have had an attack plan to run with instead of playing it by ear. Maybe I should have just waited for the right moment to let that little (big) fact float into a casual conversation.

I rolled my eyes at the thought of me having a conversation with _any_ of the Cullens. I didn't have moments where I talked with many of the kids in Forks High School. I never really even talked. So what was the point of me even thinking about casual conversation with a nonhuman that had super powers. There was no point. The thought of me having a known vampire in the room with me was probably messing up my mind.

"Ok children," Mrs. Heedler grabbed at my attention when she said the word 'children'. She never called us that unless- "There's going to be a test on Thursday. Remember to study for it."

-there was going to be a test.

Great. That's just what I needed at this time in my life. A test piled up on top of my problems with vampires.

"It's going to be on the chapter we went over last week. You should all remember how-"

The bell rang right at that second and I could have literally jumped up and kissed the loud object. I do believe I was the first one out of my seat and closest to the door (and I was sitting halfway across the room) before anyone else had the time to even think about moving. I glanced over my shoulder to see where the big brute of a teen was and was surprised to see he was packing his stuff up at a normal pace, his fingers moving nimbly to gather his things up into his arms. The only problem with this picture was that his eyes were glued to the body that was scurrying away at an alarming pace. Yeah... that body would be mine.

I hurriedly pushed through the large number of teenagers rushing through the halls to get to their lockers. I struggled through the crowd, mentally cursing at the groups of girls gossiping in the middle of the hall. I paused momentarily at the two groups, one on each side of the hall, that were close together. Kids were making their way through the teens as if it were a second nature. And although many of them were getting stuck because of the large backpacks full of books loaded onto their backs, they eventually made it through. It looked like I was going to be needing a can opener just to get to the other side.

After stepping on several toes, elbowing someone in the kidneys, and getting my hair caught on someone's notebook, I stumbled out the other side. I took a few deep breaths and stood on my tiptoes to see where Cullen had gotten to. I couldn't see his hulking figure anywhere so I figured he had probably either:

A) Given up on the very short chase.

B) Decided little old me wasn't worth the risk of pushing through girls who would try to seduce him at the blink of an eye.

or C) He was waiting for me outside so that he could suck me dry and toss away my empty body where nobody would be able to find it.

My eyes widened as I quickly spun the lock to my faded blue locker. I was starting to scare myself. Emmett wouldn't do that... would he? Bella had labeled him as a giant teddy bear. That meant he was nice and cuddly. Unless he felt that he and his family were being threatened. Oh boy. I was now considered a threat to the Cullen family.

The lock finally clicked open and I immediately shoved my Government book onto the tiny shelf inside. My English book fell out, a few papers scattering across the floor and under the feet of my high school acquaintances. I scooped up the Lit book and flung it into the beige messenger bag hanging against my hip. I didn't bother picking up the papers. I needed to get out of here before the largest of the Cullen clan found me.

The hallways were slowly starting to empty as I turned various corners at a speed I didn't know I had in me. I came upon the glass doors that led to outside and groaned at the sight of rain pounding against the windows.

I had forgotten my raincoat this morning, hence the groaning. I hesitated at the doors, my hand tapping against the handle. The rain was coming down so hard that any kind of view I might have had of the route to the parking lot was distorted.

_Ok, _I told myself, _I just need to make it twenty feet from here to the science building and then run as fast as I can to get to my car. Nothings gonna go wrong. Nobody's gonna get you. There's got to still be some kids out there getting into their own vehicles._

My reassurances weren't helping my nerves much. I finally just shoved the door open and stood underneath the small overhang of the history building. I glanced around, still hesitating, and found nothing unusual. The sounds of teenagers yelling goodbyes to their friends, the roaring of engines as they got started up... and the ring of a bell-like laugh rising above everything else.

Lovely.

I peered through the rain and couldn't find a single person that the laugh could belong to. After standing there like an idiot for a few more minutes, I decided to make my move. I took off into the oncoming rain. My feet splashed through puddles and my shirt stuck to my back uncomfortably. I reached the side of the science building and threw my back up against it. I heard my shoes give off a squelching sound as I slid against the brick and ended up near the corner of the building.

Wiping at my face to get the water off it, I took a breathe and peered around the corner at the parking lot. I gazed around at the cars still parked on the asphalt and took a step away from the building. Nothing seemed suspicious. Mike Newton was near Tyler Crowley's white van, dancing like a lunatic and jumping in the middle of puddles. The girls in his group of friends, those under umbrellas, squealed as the waves of water hit their legs and soaked their clothes.

I took another step out into the open, still looking around. A half of a step later I was throwing myself back against the wall after glimpsing the pale skin of a small pixie-like person. Shit. Alice Cullen was standing under a pink umbrella next to her brother's car. My Suburban was on the other side of the building. I turned around and went the opposite direction of where I saw the smaller girl.

_I'll just try going this way._

I reached the other corner of the side of the building and once again slid up against the bricks. The small space between the science building and the English building was empty. Just grass, mud and many puddles waiting for me to walk through. I quickly rushed into the area, the mud staining my shoes as I trudged through it. I got excited as I grew closer and closer to where freedom was waiting.

_Yes! Almost there, almost there! Ye-NO!_

A body stepped in my way just as I reached the opening between the two buildings. I flinched backwards and almost ended up with my butt covered in mud as I fell. A hand reached out and grabbed onto my bag just in time and instead I was dangling with one foot in the air and the other sliding dangerously towards the person who caught me.

His short, dark curls stuck to his head, turning the brown color black. The rain made his gray t-shirt cling to his body like a second skin. This allowed for his muscles to become more prominent as he flexed his arms menacingly.

Emmett Cullen had caught me.

I righted myself and tried to take a step away from him, only to be trapped by his hand fastening to my messenger bag even tighter. He pulled it closer to himself and I was suddenly very, _very_ terrified for my life.

I dropped to the ground on my knees, barely even noticing the water soaking into my jeans, and slid out of the strap on my backpack. I launched myself backwards, my hands clenching mud and wet grass as I did so. Emmett stayed still as he watched me try to get away. If he was just going to stand there, then I needed to make a break for it. Now.

As soon as I was standing on my feet, Emmett tossed my bag aside and latched his hands around each of my biceps. I couldn't help it, I squeaked as he picked me up and lifted me so my face was level with his. I took this moment to beg for my life.

"Please don't kill me I'm too young to die! I swear I'll be a better person from now on. I'll talk more, I'll be much more friendly. I'll even start going to the school dances. But you can't kill me, I've got a cat at home that depends on me. Please! I'm her only source of food and love!"

He froze, still staring at me.

My breathing became more erratic as I watched his eyes flicker over my distressed face.

"If you're going to kill me, can you please make it quick and painless? "

I clenched my eyes shut and waited for him to make his move. Still nothing.

"Now would be a really great time to snap my neck. My eyes aren't open so I'd never expect it."

Silence.

"Would you freakin do it already!"

For a moment I thought he'd gotten angry at me because his hands tightened around my arms. I was sure there would be bruises if I was still alive tomorrow. _If. _Then I heard it. The deep rumbling that came from before me. I could feel his chest vibrating and I opened one eye to see what he was doing.

Emmett was grinning from ear to ear and I was frightened that it would split his face if he grinned any wider. A chuckle bubbled from his lips and only seconds later did his deep laughs come forth. I stared at him with a bewildered look upon my face. What. The. Hell!

The tall boy set me down on my feet and my knees were so weak that I almost fell to the ground. I staggered backwards until I was far enough away from him to feel slightly comfortable.

"What is wrong with you?"

Emmett folded over with his fists clenched on his knees. He was still laughing.

"Seriously, man, if you're gonna eat me you better do it now." I took a step back as I said this.

I knew vampires didn't need to breathe, but it looked as if he couldn't because he was laughing too hard. He finally calmed down enough to stand straight. A large grin still graced his lips.

"I'm not gonna eat you," his deep voice announced.

I froze for a second before saying, "You better not be joking you big buffoon. Didn't your mother ever teach you to not play with your food?"

He grin was still there. "If I was going to eat you, which I'm not, don't you think it unwise to call the person wanting your blood names?"

Pausing, I realized that he really wasn't going to eat me. The relief was instant. A hand rose up to my chest and I could feel my frantically beating heart pounding against my ribcage.

"Oh thank God. I seriously thought you were going to have me for dinner."

"I still could, if you want me to."

My eyes widened and I slid in the mud while moving back. "No thanks. Not interested."

He gave another laugh and then studied me as I desperately looked for a way out of the closed space we were standing in. I bet I didn't look like much other then a drowned rat. The both of us were soaking wet, but he looked good. Me? Not so much. My jeans were heavy and almost falling off my waist, my shirt, thank goodness it wasn't white, was still stuck to my body. My copper colored hair was knotted and my aquamarine eyes were red from the rain. Amongst all of this, my whole backside was covered in mud. My arms looked as if I had been digging through all the muck. My hands and up past my forearms were covered in the brown stuff. I don't really see what he had to look at other then a disaster.

I looked behind Emmett through the rain to and was just barely able to see the passenger side of my Suburban sitting in its parking space ten feet away. He was the Pearly Gate standing between me and my heaven. I couldn't hear any other cars in the parking lot. Not good. My eyes swung from looking at Emmett to behind him and back. He noticed the movement and spread his arms out and crouched down slightly.

"Uh-uh. You're not going anywhere."

I brushed my muddy hands off on my thighs and struggled to keep in the words so desperately trying to get out. I failed.

"Y'know, the average American eats McDonalds more than 1,800 times in their lifetime."

Emmett raised an eyebrow. "How... interesting?"

"Yeah... I could really go for a burger right about now."

In my mind I wasn't thinking about cheeseburgers at all. My thoughts?

_I'm completely screwed._


	5. As Serious As A Heart Attack

**A/N -** Ok, so I didn't get this chapter out faster then I did the last one. I haven't gotten any out for any of my stories at all. I just haven't really been in the mood to write. I'm sorry for that. I really do hope people are still willing to read this story. As soon as I finish one of my stories (the only one that's almost done) then I'll be able to work on everything else I've got going on.

**Reviews - **

**Lani-wolf -** It's before Bella comes. The reason for Twilight being an old book is going to come out later in the story. Hopefully sooner then later.

**bellaroxursocx - **I have a feeling you're not much of a Bella fan, are you? Not that the gag thing didn't bring me to that notion at all. :) Anyways, Bella's not in Forks just yet, but she will be. Eventually...soon. In a couple chapters I guess. And no, mud does not taste all that great according to what Finley has been telling me.

**Disclaimer - **I absolutely do not own anything Twilight related. I own Finley, Nibbler, and her parents and that's just about it so far.

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**Chapter Five - As serious as a heart attack**

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His golden eyes stared at me as I clenched my lips closed. Several minutes had passed and we were still standing between the English and science building. The rest of his family had left already; I had heard the purr of the Volvo exiting the parking lot just seconds before. For three minutes he hadn't blinked while he gazed at me. It was really starting to creep me out.

"Ok, you really need to blink," I eventually verbalized. "It's beginning to freak me out."

Emmett raised an eyebrow and blinked slowly.

"Thank you."

Other then the rain hitting the roofs of the buildings on either side of us, it went silent. My body started shivering and goosebumps became apparent on my bare arms. Emmett took notice to my teeth slightly chattering.

"I can stand here all day, but you can't," he stated. "So we might as well go somewhere where you're not going to get pneumonia."

"I com-completely a-agree," I sputtered. I took a step towards my messenger bag, which had been forgotten till now, but Emmett held his hand out to stop me.

"I got it. Get in your car and turn up the heat."

I took no time in rushing around him, my feet practically skating across the mud, and slid into the drivers seat of my suburban. I almost dropped my keys twice, my fingers so cold they were numb, before I was able to turn on the engine. The heat was still turned on full blast from this morning and it took a couple seconds before it actually started to get warm.

I glanced out the windshield and could see Emmett taking his time with picking up my backpack and making his way towards my car. My Lit book was probably soaked all the way through. Great. The tall boy came to the passenger side door and I leaned over to unlock it. After opening the door he tossed my backpack into the backseat and made to get in. I wasn't having it.

"Nononono, I don't think so."

He looked at me, one foot up on the dirty floor mat and the rain pounding down on him, and confusedly asked, "Why?"

_Because you're a freakin VAMPIRE, that's why! The instant you get me alone you'll suck my blood and get rid of my body! _That's what I really wanted to shout at him, but my parents always taught me to never judge someone by what they looked like...or, in this case, by their gorgeous nonhuman species. So what actually came out of my mouth was, "You've got mud on your shoes and you're soaking wet."

Emmett scoffed at me and got in anyways. I blinked in surprise.

"Seriously, dude, did I not just say I didn't want you in my car because you're wet?"

The large boy got comfortable while he answered. "I have a feeling it has nothing to do with my shoes or my wet clothes – don't interrupt – because your whole back is covered in mud and you've been outside in the rain just as long as I have. It's because I'm a vamp, ain't it?"

"Pfft, no," I immediately denied, watching as he glanced around at the interior of my car. His fingers went to open my glove box and I shut it just as soon as it was opened. "It has nothing to do with the fact that you're a...a... vampire."

"Yeah right, and I'm Earl Dean."

"Hey! He developed the design that went on the Coca-Cola bottle. He was an awesome man."

"I'm surprised you actually know that."

"I'm not," I murmured with a roll of my eyes.

"Just admit that you have a problem with being in an enclosed space with me because you're afraid I might decide to drink you dry."

I sighed in frustration. "Fine. I'll admit it. I'm deathly afraid that you're going to decide to kill me before I even get a chance to explain myself to you."

Emmett nodded in acceptance and drummed his fingers on the dashboard. "Good...so, where we going?"

"Seeing as I really don't want to explain myself to anybody that might see us together if we went somewhere public, I figured we'd go to my house."

"Alright!" he shouted excitedly. I must have looked at him funny because he turned in his seat to face me and grinned brightly. "I haven't been to a human's house in years. This is gonna be awesome."

"Yeah, awesome. Yay!" I tried to be enthusiastic to go along with his anticipation of going to my house. I just hoped he decided he didn't want to eat me before having Nibbler for dessert. By all means drink my blood, but please, leave my kitty alone.

I backed out of my parking space and began the journey to my two story house. Emmett wasn't silent for very long.

"So, I never got your name."

"It's Finley. Finley Weston."

"Cool. I've never seen you around Forks, are you new here?"

I glanced over at him with a flabbergasted look on my face. "Are you kidding me?"

Emmett shook his head. "No. Why?"

"I've lived in Forks my whole life. Never even been on a trip beyond the Washington border."

"Then how come I've never seen you before today?"

"You have."

"I have?"

"Yes. Are you really _that_ caught up in your family? You have me in at least three of your classes. I've got Jasper in one of them and Rosalie in two. And on your first day of coming to Forks High School you even laughed at me because of a small cookie incident I had."

Emmett's eyebrows furrowed together and he scratched at his head. "Seriously?"

"As serious as a heart attack."

He mouth clamped shut and his arms crossed over his chest. I glanced over at him after taking a left turn. "Don't think too hard, big guy, it doesn't matter to me if you noticed me at school or not. Never has, never will."

His topaz eyes went from studying the road to where I was hunched over the steering wheel with my hands next to the warm vent and my forearms steering the car. "Why not?"

"Cause I've never had the need for the drama that comes with people noticing you. I don't mind being off by myself all the time. I've got my cat, Nibbler. Oh, and the kids I used to baby-sit out on the Rez. Can't forget about them. They'd strangle me if I forgot about them. Cute kids, one of them has got a birthday coming up. I think he's turning fourteen. I really need to remember to buy him a present."

By the end of my talk I was mumbling mainly just to myself. Emmett had gone quiet so I flipped on the radio to fill the awkward silence. Another minute passed by and we were arriving at my house. My suburban took up the entire driveway and I shoved my body against the drivers door to open it as it got stuck. I motioned for Emmett to get out and then reached in the back for my book bag.

He walked around the car to stand next to me, me moving a few inches away so I wouldn't be standing _right_ next to him.

I slammed my door shut and gave him a fleeting look. "Ok, bud, lets get this over with, shall we?"

* * *

It took me forty-five minutes after getting changed to tell Emmett all about how I knew what I knew. I was currently in the kitchen preparing my dinner while talking through the archway to where he sat in the living room. Nibbler was curled up around my neck on my shoulders, her tail flicking my nose every so often. As soon as she saw Emmett, she wanted nothing to do with him and everything with getting away from him. She finally calmed down after I continuously held her for twenty minutes.

I finished fixing my sandwich and tossed the knife into the sink, not even wincing as it clanged loudly. Nibbler's claws dug into my skin for a brief second before she laid her head down on my shoulder and relaxed.

"So, are you really not going to tell me anything else?"

I entered the living room and peered at Emmett through the long bangs that partially blocked my view of him. He was set up on the loveseat next to the front door. It was the only couch I'd allow him to sit on while still wet. His elbows were digging into his knees as his fists held his head up. He watched me as I carefully sat down on the other couch and set my plate on the coffee table.

"No, I'm not going to tell you anything else. I don't even know if it's going to happen. Besides," I took a large bite out of the PB and J sandwich. "You don't need to know anything else other then what I've already told you."

Emmett scowled at me. "But all you've told me is that this chick Belford-"

"Bella," I smiled out of amusement.

"-is going to come to town and completely change everything. That her and Edward are going to fall in love and that she finds out about us."

"Uh-huh."

"Why can't you tell me anything else?"

"Because I don't know if she _is_ going to come to town."

"This whole thing is completely ridiculous."

I opened the bag of Doritos I had brought with me and peeled apart the slices of bread on my sandwich to put a few of the chips between them. "I know it is. I'm not entirely sure if the book is even real or not. Or in the present for that matter."

"If you don't know then shouldn't you be able to tell me?"

"Think about it, Emmett. What would happen if this girl really did show up one day and you knew all about it? If you told your family, which I have a feeling you're going to do as soon as you leave here, then the whole storyline would be thrown off course."

"So what?"

My eyes rolled to the ceiling. "Emmett, if this story is real, and I'm not saying it is, then something bad could happen if it doesn't go the way it's supposed to."

"Can I see the book?"

"No, you may not. Although it's not like I'd be able to hold you back from finding it. My scent's probably all over it."

His next words were incoherent as he stood up and inspected the room around him.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't understand you."

He gave a frustrated sigh and started towards the bookcase behind the couch. I turned around on my knees to watch him and Nibbler slid to the back of the couch in front of me. I ran my fingers along her spine and she slinked off the couch and to the floor before disappearing.

"I can't actually tell what books you've held so I wouldn't know which one it was."

My eyebrows shot up. "You can't? Why not?"

He studied the books on the shelf and his fingers ran across a few of them. "You don't have a...scent."

"That would be because I showered this morning."

He looked at me briefly over his shoulder with a smile. "That's not what I meant. Everybody I've ever met has a scent. Even vampires. But for some reason you don't have one."

I leaned forward against the back of the couch as he knelt down to look at the bottom shelves. "Shouldn't I have one though? Is there something wrong with me?"

"Yes, there is," he teased. He stood back up and turned around to frown at me. "Right now in this room I can smell peppermint and cinnamon, and neither of them are coming from you."

My fingers dug into the couch. "My mom smells like cinnamon and my dad sucks on peppermints all the time."

"See. But you, you're an anomaly. I can't even get a whiff of what your scent is."

Emmett stretched his neck out as if to sniff me. I leaned back with my hands holding onto the back of the couch. "I'm going to take a guess and say this is a bad thing?"

"For me, maybe. For you, no. For any vampire that might come into Forks and run into you, yes, it is. Although I don't think another vamp is gonna be heading into town anytime soon so I think you're good."

"Well..." I bit my lip.

Emmett tilted his head. "Does this have anything to do with the book that _might_ come true?"

"If I say yes will you eat me?"

"No."

"Then yes."

The pale skinned boy groaned and I immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry, Emmett, but I can't tell you anything until the time Bella gets here has passed. If she doesn't arrive in a month then I can tell you all about it. Besides, if the book weren't true, then how do you suppose I knew all about you and your family?"

Emmett walked around the back of the couch plopped down on the cushion to my right. I sat back on my feet and leaned against the arm of the couch to face him.

He eyed me before saying, "I don't know. Maybe you've been watching us for months and have been waiting for the right moment to catch one of us by surprise."

"Don't you think Alice or Edward would've said something before now? Actually," I muttered with confusion. "At least one of them should have been catching me all week. I walk past Edward every day to get to P.E. and each time I've thought about what you guys are. And Alice would've known the minute I decided to confront you. Neither of them have said a thing to me."

The curly haired boy in front of me looked just as baffled as I felt. "I think there's something wrong with you, Finley."

"I'm beginning to think the same thing, Emmett."


	6. Two Weeks

**Reviews -**

**IloveYhuJacobBlack –** Thanks! And I'm not too sure about what pairings are going to take place. But there will be some. I'll be sure to notify you when they arrive.

**Snakeskin Babe**

**xXthecatalystXx –** I love Finley's name too, that's why I chose it! She's not really a super shield, and the secret won't be revealed for at least a few more chapters. It will definitely become more apparent after Bella arrives.

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**Chapter Six - Two weeks**

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Three-thirty in the morning, and I was still awake. Just barely. After spending all night talking with Emmett about the possibilities of what was wrong with me, I finally kicked him out at around one. Bella must not have been around him that much, because she never mentioned how much of an annoying chatter-box that boy could be. He listed off several different causes for him not being able to smell me, the main one he most enjoyed saying was that I was defective.

Really? Defective? There was absolutely nothing wrong with me. I was perfectly fine. He was the one who was defective. His nose probably went all haywire on him and decided to not take the time to process my scent. The same went for Alice and Edward.

I blearily blinked at the bright TV screen; an early episode of Spongebob Squarepants was gracing my eyes with an assortment of colors. I was too tired to comprehend the plot of Plankton trying to steal another Krabby Patty. My mind was fuzzy from being up so late. It wasn't my fault I hadn't been able to get to sleep after Emmett left. I had gone to bed, hoping to catch at least ten hours of sleep and then wake up at no later then eleven because it was a Saturday.

But no, not even a wink of sleep. I laid in bed for an hour before I had finally given up and went to watch TV. Nibbler had fallen asleep easily; her claws were still stuck in my skin from when she'd attacked me during a commercial break and then dropped off into dreamland. I wish I were my cat. She had it so easy.

My head rolled back and my eyes started drooping closed. Yes, bed time! I reached for the remote and turned the TV off while yawning. As soon as the glow from the screen disappeared, the room turned pitch black. I shuffled my arm out of Nibbler's death hold and she barely even lifted an eyelid to look at me. She started purring as I lifted her up and cuddled her into my chest. I dodged the coffee table and made my way down the hall, knocking into the walls as I did so.

Finally, sleep, a place where my dreams (even including nightmares) were never as scary as my reality.

* * *

My dreams couldn't have been more pleasant, and I was thankful for that. I dipped my feet into the ocean, rode on the back of a purple unicorn, and then burned the reason that I knew about a certain family of vampires. It was excellent. On the outside of my dream world I knew I was smiling, because the sight of a small novel burning in a large barrel would forever be etched into my brain. It took only seconds for that light feeling of happiness to disappear.

A cool breeze drifted over my face and I buried my head further into my blankets. I was fine for about another minute, and then the blanket was pulled back. Whoever was deterring me from my sleep was going to die a slow and painful death. I think scooping their eyes out with a rusty spoon would work.

"Wakey, wakey."

The sound of the male's voice was like a deep melodious bell-like ring to my ears. Damn... it's too late to make this certain person slowly bleed out. He was already dead.

"It's a B-E-A-utiful morning outside and you're still in bed sleeping."

I cracked open an eye to see Emmett looking down at me from beside my bed before opening the other one. "You know, there's a reason for there being a bed in this particular room. It's my bedroom and I'm doing what every normal human being needs to be healthy day in and day out... _it's called_ _sleeping_."

Emmett quickly disregarded my words and grinned widely at the sight of my open eyes. "Well good morning, Finley. How are you on this fine day?"

Whoever coined the phrase "Good morning" had obviously never been woken up by an obnoxious sixty-something year old vampire.

I sat up, yawning, and rubbed at my eyes. I glanced at the alarm clock and then took a double take as the numbers 9:23 registered with my brain. My mouth dropped open and my aquamarine gaze landed on the window to the outside world. "Beautiful morning my ass."

Emmett spared a look at the slight rain running down the window panes and the darkened sky before shrugging. "It's a beautiful morning to me."

"Well, you obviously weren't up till almost four in the morning, now were you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes I was. I stayed up past four. Never even went to sleep."

"Emmett, I know you don't sleep so please don't play games with me right now," I groaned out and then flopped back down onto my pillow. "Wake me when the time has reached the point where there's four numbers instead of three... and when the sun's out."

"But Alice said the sun won't come out for another week."

"Good. Wake me next Saturday."

"But I'm bored! I need someone to play with me."

I pulled my gray comforter up till it reached my neck and closed my eyes. "Go play with one of the six vampires living in your mansion."

"Can't; Jasper went hunting with Esme, Alice and Rosalie went shopping in Seattle, Carlisle's working, and Edward thinks I'm out doing something he'd be bored with."

After snorting I asked, "Like what, crocheting?"

I felt him sit down on the edge of my bed and I shied away from the cold emitting from his body. Even through the blanket covering me could I feel his chilled skin. "Go away, Emmett. You're freezing and I'm nice and warm under my blankets. I don't care where you go. Just let me sleep."

It was silent and I almost thought he had left without me noticing, but the fact that the bottom corner of my bed still held weight made me reconsider. The edge of my blanket lifted and I felt something cold grasp my ankle.

"Emmett!" I whined. I jerked my leg away without opening my eyes.

"I decided to not tell my family."

"I figured you hadn't since I'm not being accosted by angry vampires. Why?"

The cold hand grabbed my leg again and I kicked at the boy holding onto it.

"Well, I was going over everything last night-"

"Don't you mean this morning."

"Yeah. Anyways, I decided it probably isn't a good idea to change the events in the book. If they all knew about this girl then we'd probably be screwed. I thought about that, and I still can't think of something that would make you… _you_."

I snuggled into my pillow. "_I _make me, me. Might as well not worry about i-"

My eyes shot open when I realized what he had said. "Emmett?"

The boy shifted near my feet. "Yeah?"

"Where did you do all this thinking at?"

"My house, why?"

I groaned. He was going to be the death of me. Literally. "Emmett, if you don't want to give anything away then you shouldn't be thinking about it at home. In fact, don't ever think again."

I turned over and Emmett stood up. He looked down at me worriedly. "Why not?"

Growling under my breath, I flipped my covers back and set my feet on the floor. "You can't be that stupid. Think, Emmett. Think."

And so he thought about it. I waited for that moment when he would get that look on his face that told me he realized what I was hinting at. The one where he knew he did wrong and that he was an idiot. When it finally happened, I nodded at his astounded look.

"Shit."

"Yeah, shit. We were already stuck in a whole heap of it and you just made it worse by involving a mind reading blood sucker."

"I didn't think he'd be listening to me, I was playing my Xbox and he was upstairs doing whatever it is that he does when he's alone. He never even said anything to me when I was leaving the house this morning."

My toes touched the dark blue carpeted floor and I quickly stood up. "Now he's probably curious, or suspicious, to know who you were thinking about and he's going to come check things out eventually. Wait, how did you even get in my house?"

Emmett gestured towards the hall. "Front door."

I took a step towards my bedroom door. "Did you pick the lock?"

"No, it was unlocked. You should really think about locking the door. You never know when a serial killer might take up residence in Forks."

"You mean like you?" I bolted towards my door and then tore down the steps as fast as I could. I could hear him following after me, not even bothering to use his inhuman speed.

"What are you _doing_?"

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glanced both ways down the hall. One way led towards the kitchen, living room and bathroom, the other towards the front door. My bare feet slapped against the tiles and I slammed into the door, almost smacking my face against the wood. "What does it look like I'm doing, baking cookies? I'm locking the door."

"Is there a reason for this?"

I turned the dead bolt and glanced through the window next to the door, pushing aside the curtain suspiciously. "Yes. It's so Edward can't get in."

"You do know that that's not going to hold him back, right?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

I whirled around and my back hit the door at the unknown voice replying to Emmett's question. If I had known that the bronze haired teen was going to be in my house, sneaking up on me, then I would have left the front door unlocked. Just so that I could make a quick getaway in case this got ugly.

"Edward Cullen, what are you doing here?"

Yes, that was my strategy; pretend that both he and I knew absolutely nothing.

Edward's golden eyes scrutinized the way my hands started curling into the large t-shirt I was wearing. "I was wondering if you could tell me?"

That did _not_ sound like a question. It was more like a demand.

"Well, unless I'm dreaming right now, then I don't know what I'm supposed to be telling you." I took a peek at Emmett to see if he was going to help me out, but his eyes were wide and shooting between Edward and I, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. He was gaping like a fish when I needed his help with his brother.

"According to Emmett, you know something that you shouldn't."

"Emmett's here?" I glanced around the hall in wonder, completely skipping over the large form I had just looked at mere seconds ago. He was practically taking up the whole hallway. "Where?"

"I'm not stupid. You're not dreaming. Tell me how you know what you know."

"Well, unless I get a hint at what I'm supposed to know, then how do I know what I'm supposed to be telling you?"

Edward's gaze hardened as he stared at me. He looked as if he were concentrating. I knew he was trying to read my mind. _Ha ha, suckah! It's not going to work!_

"Tell me about the book?"

I knew my widened eyes gave away that I knew what he was talking about. I was _so_ busted! "I don't know what you're talking about. How do you even know if a book is involved?"

His eyes flickered towards Emmett and I immediately scowled at the muscled boy. "Emmett! What did I tell you about thinking?"

My body became paralyzed and my eyes moved to where Edward was smirking at me. I tensed up for a brief second before blurting out, "Ok, so maybe I do know what you're talking about. Just please don't kill me. I have so many things I was to accomplish in life. Like going to Iceland; did you know that apparently it's an insult to tip a waiter at a restaurant? I've always wanted to see if that's true or not."

Emmett moved away from me and towards Edward. I waited to see what he would do, but all he did was slide past the smaller teen and lean against the wall.

"Emmett! You're gonna let him kill me, just like that? What happened to all those dreams of becoming Loch Ness Monster wranglers? And don't tell me you've forgotten about our plan of building a time machine and going back to see the dinosaurs?"

Edward raised an eyebrow at my hysterics and Emmett started chuckling.

"Please, as I've said once before, I'm too young to die-"

"I'm not going to kill you."

I instantly calmed and I wiped away a few fake tears that had been for effect. "Good, because every day, over 1,300 babies are born prematurely in the United States. I'd like to live long enough to know that my grandchildren aren't part of that statistic."

The usually poised Edward looked at me incredulously. Emmett slapped him on the back and snickered out, "Don't even bother asking her where she got that information. She told me about how much Americans eat McDonald's and when later asked, all she told me was that she knows everything."

"It's because I do."

Emmett grinned, shook his head at me, and then turned around to walk towards my living room. Edward inclined his head in his brother's direction and I rolled my eyes before following the big brute.

"I really do know everything, Emmett. Just you wait and see. As soon as one of those rare moments where you don't know something comes along, I'll most likely blurt out the answer faster then you can run around the house while in full speed."

"Sure, sure. I believe you." Emmett flopped down on my couch and I cringed to hear the frame creak as he did so.

"Be careful with my couch, I really don't want to have to explain to my parents why I had to buy new furniture with my credit card."

Edward sat down with much more care then Emmett had and I sighed in relief as the wood and springs held. Emmett put his feet up onto the coffee table and I sat down next to his jean clad legs to face the two. I folded my hands together under my chin, my elbows set on my knees, and I leaned forward slightly.

"Ok, Eddie, I'm only going to say this once so pay attention. This whole thing all started a couple months ago when my crazy mother bought a book from an unknown dealer..."

* * *

It's been two weeks.

That's fourteen days, 336 hours, 20,160 minutes, and 1,209,600 seconds (approximately) since I had told Edward everything. Well, not everything. Just the minor ingredients to the cake, he certainly wasn't going to be baking anything anytime soon; not with the major ingredient still living in Arizona.

For those two weeks, he has watched me like a hawk. I go to open my locker, he's across the hall staring me down. I get a drink from the water fountain, he's there to watch me slurp the liquid noisily. I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom across the hall, he's there at the end of the hall staring at me like a creeper. He seriously needed to stop with the stalker business.

Emmett became even more friendly towards me during the three class periods we shared, though, which was a plus. No one even noticed when he decided to sit next to me in American Government instead of by himself halfway across the room. He even came over after school most of the time, bringing along his Xbox 360 to play against me in whatever new war game he had bought.

The rest of the Cullen family, well, they weren't too sure about me. Alice had no problem with smiling brightly at me whenever she passed me in the halls or on the way to lunch. Emmett told me it was because she was ecstatic about Edward finally being able to be happy. She still hasn't said a word to me. Yet. I knew it was coming eventually.

Nothing changed with Rosalie. She still ignored me every chance she got and never bothered trying to have a chat with me. Her 'twin' on the other hand, had actually started looking at me curiously out of the corner of his eye in English. And if I hadn't taken the time to stare at the square tiles that made up the floor in boredom, I probably wouldn't have noticed that his desk had mysteriously started shifting towards me throughout the class periods. After a quick talk with my informant for the rest of the Cullen family (The large pale guy. What was his name again?), I was told that since Jasper had never taken the time to determine whose blood was whose (for obvious reasons), he never realized that he couldn't smell mine. This brought on the migration of the desk since I brought him slight relief towards the blood craze.

Esme had picked the kids up and has seen me once. I knew Edward had made some sort of comment as I got in my car a few spaces away, because the mother had glanced through the windows to chance a peek at me. Dr. Carlisle called the house to ask for my dad and after he figured out who he was talking to, I had a nice chat with him about olive trees being able to live up to 1500 years. Do not ask me how we even got on that subject.

None of the family members had any new information about what was wrong with me. Carlisle had asked me a few questions when he had called. We ended that phone conversation with him saying, "Interesting. Excuse me Ms. Weston, I've got some research to do."

That was a week ago and also the last time I'd heard from him. The whole thing was becoming ridiculous.

Friday crept along at a slow pace. I wanted to go home so I could nap. Emmett kept me up the night before turning the radio on and off, which annoyed me to no end. That, plus the fact that Edward was sitting in the corner watching me trying to get to sleep was enough to make me stay awake for as long as I could. Both of them were being childish; Emmett was basically a little kid who was bored out of his mind and needed a new shiny toy or he'd be, well, bored. Edward was being childish because he was sulking over not being able to find the book that I had hidden oh so very well from him. He was not going to find it so he could read it and change everything that was supposed to happen. That would be a big no-no.

The last class of the day, Government, passed slowly. Every so often I found my eyes closing as Mrs. Heedler's voice droned on and on about checks and balances. Something nudged my foot and I was jolted awake. I glanced over at Emmett and he looked at me sheepishly.

I pushed my hair back and yawned. I peered up at the clock at the front of the room and saw that there was only a few minutes before the bell rang. I gathered my things up quietly, taking notice to how a few kids were thinking on the same frequency as I was. It was Friday. The weekend. Fun time. Whatever you wanted to call it. _I_ planned on sleeping for most of it. The bell finally rang in the middle of the teacher's lesson and I slowly got up out of my desk. Emmett rose next to me and we exited the classroom together.

"Doing anything interesting this weekend, Finley?"

I glanced up at him suspiciously. "Not yet, why?"

"Because Edward was thinking of taking you to our house to get a proper introduction to the family."

"No."

My immediate answer had Emmett's laugh echoing over the students heads as they scurried around us. "I knew you'd say that. I told Edward not to get his hopes up."

We walked past my locker since I didn't need anything out of it and I told him, "Em, I'm going home and taking a nap. As soon as I've taken my nap, I'm eating dinner. When I'm done with dinner, I plan on spending some quality time with Nibbler. Ever since Edward started hanging around I haven't seen hide-nor-hair of her. I think your brother scares her."

"Yeah, it's not hard to see why. It's his face."

I grinned up at him. "My point exactly. You better tell him that if I even feel a breeze when the windows are closed tonight, I'm going to chop his balls off. He better be staying away from my house."

Emmett laughed once again as he held the glass door of the English building open. "I'll be sure to tell him that. Does that mean you don't want to see me either?"

I replied without remorse, "Yep. I don't want to see a single pale person inside, or outside, my house. At least till tomorrow afternoon. Got it?"

"I got it. I'll see you tomorrow at noon then."

"Good, now be gone ya big ape. I need to get home to my comfy bed."

Ten minutes later I was walking through my front door to an empty house. I tossed my backpack onto the couch, flipped my shoes off my feet, and then walked towards the stairs with my bed on my mind. I noticed a flashing red light out of the corner of my eye and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"What now," I said as I started towards the answering machine. "It better not be Edward telling me that he's watching me even when he's not here. That would be creepy."

I pressed the play button and listened as the mechanical female voice told me that I had one missed message and that I had received it at two twenty P.M. After the voice finished it took a moment before a second, non mechanical, boyish voice sounded throughout the room.

"_FIN_!"

I winced and smiled at the same time at the volume.

"_I hope you didn't completely forget about my birthday party tomorrow_."

I glanced at the calender to see 'Dudley 14 Birthday Party' written in blue ink in my messy handwriting and circled in red marker.

"_You better be here, Finners, I'm going through withdrawals without you. And Paul misses you too- Hey! Give me back the phone! PAUL_!"

I snickered at the machine. This always happened whenever Dudley called me.

"_Hey, Fin. You know who it is. If not, there's something wrong with you and you must have been hit over the head to even think about forgetting me_."

He was so full of himself.

"_Anyways, make sure to get your _lovely_ ass down to La Push tomorrow, or else the little brother is going to die of heart ach_-"

The sound of the phone hitting a solid object (most likely the floor) blasted through the speaker. Male voices were yelling at each other just before I heard the dial tone. I smiled at the message. It didn't matter who called me first, Dudley or Paul, the phone call always ended with a fight and the ring of a dial tone.

Well, it looks like I was going to a birthday party tomorrow instead of being glowered at by Edward.

Pity.


	7. My Brother From Another Mother

**Reviews -**

**The Random Artist –** Love will be added eventually, mostly when the other books start happening. Hope there was enough sibling-like love in this chapter for you though. :)

**xXthecatalystXx –** It was never mentioned in the books if Paul had any siblings so I kinda just... made one up. And all those questions you asked, those will hopefully be answered in the next chapter.

**Disclaimer -** I own nothing from the Twilight books, nor the movies. All I own are Finley, Dudley, Nibbler, and Finley's parents. I don't even own the pick up lines used in this chapter.

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**Chapter Seven - My brother from another mother**

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Dudley Wilkie was one of the Native Americans that lived on the La Push reservation a couple miles from Forks. Ever since I was thirteen I had been baby-sitting him on the nights when his brother couldn't and his mom had to work late. He was a scrawny little kid with copper colored skin and shaggy black hair that he liked to keep cut just under his ears. His eyes were a deep brown that were continuously sparkling with happiness and he always had a ridiculous joke to tell whenever he saw me.

Out of the four kids I baby-sat on the rez, he was one of my favorites. I think it was due to the fact that he grew attached to me and invited me over on nights when my sitting skills weren't needed. Him, his older brother, and his mother became like my second family since mine wasn't around as much as I would've like them to.

As I made the fifteen minute drive to the Wilkie house, I immediately knew the party was going to be outside. For the past week the rain had been letting up and the cloud cover had slowly been receding. It was almost warm enough to drive with the windows down.

I'd left strict instructions on a note for Emmett to not open the curtains if he stayed in my house. I had a fear that he'd step in the sunlight and start sparkling, alerting my neighbors that there was someone in the house when nobody was home. I really didn't want the cops called and then have to have Emmett explain to Charlie Swan why he was there in the first place. I'd get called away from Dudley's party. That would not be a good thing.

I glanced over to the passenger seat at the wrapped presents shifting with each turn I took down the streets of La Push. I had gotten him two things; a duct tape wallet (which I should have just made instead of buying), and the world's largest gummy bear. It was blue raspberry flavored and it took all my will to not open the damn thing and take a bite out of it.

I cleared my throat and my gaze shifted from the road to the presents again. The wrapping paper I had used was just a newspaper I had gotten from the gas station. I hadn't done anything too special with it. I mean, I drew devil horns on the sophomore English teacher who was teacher of the week. I'd also managed to get a hold of the monthly four page newspaper from La Push and found a picture of Paul and his best friend Jared before making sure it was on the top of the box the gummy bear rested in. They were nominated for some tribal thing, I think. I wasn't that much interested in actually reading the article, I just wanted to desecrate their pictures. I used my amazing sharpie skills to give Jared a handlebar mustache, drew antennae on Paul, and then gave them both vampire fangs and breasts. I knew Emmett would have laughed if he had seen the teeth and Dudley was sure to admire my artwork greatly.

After turning down one last street, I came upon the Wilkie house and parked on the road. I gathered up Dudley's presents and kicked my door open. I was right about the party being outside; the sounds of boys fighting over something echoed around the house and across the yard toward me. I rolled my eyes and slammed my door shut with my elbow.

The shouting cut off and all I could hear was the birds chirping in the trees as I began walking up the dirt path to the front door. I looked curiously at both corners of the front of the white house when three young male voices started laughing. I had roughly ten seconds to throw the presents away from me so they wouldn't get crushed before I was tackled to the ground.

"Not again," I groaned under their weight.

The person straddled my waist and grinned innocently down at me. "FIN! My sister from another mister! Where ya been?"

"Just around, my brother from another mother. Now could you get off of me, you're crushing my lungs."

"Oh, sorry."

They jumped off my body and I gasped for air dramatically. I held my hand out and they grasped my fingers and pulled me to my feet. I wiped at the back of my jeans and made a face at the slight wetness I felt.

"Duds, the grass hasn't fully dried yet because it hasn't been sunny enough. Why do you always have to tackle me when you see me?"

"Because that's just how I roll," Dudley scoffed and positioned his fingers in his own made up gang sign hand gesture.

"You're not _gangstah_ so put the hand away and get your presents."

He crossed his eyes and stooped to the ground to pick up his gifts. "What'd you get me?"

I shoved his shoulder and started towards his front door. "You'll find out when you open them later."

"Oh, come on, Finny. Can't I open them now?" He whined as he followed behind me.

"Ask your mom."

"But all she'll say is," here his voice turned higher as he attempted to imitate his mother. "_No, Duddykinns, you may not open your presents yet. We will play party games, eat cake, and _then_ open your gifts when everyone is present._ Seriously? Can't I open just one?"

I paused at the front steps and turned to look at him on the walkway. Dudley's puppy dogs eyes almost had me giving in. Almost.

"Nope," I said, emphasizing the 'p' as I did so. "You gotta wait just like everybody else does to see what you got."

He went to argue with me but I quickly interrupted with, "Have you tried shaking them yet? To see if you can tell what you got?"

His brown eyes brightened and the hand holding the smallest present rose to his ear and he shook it.

"Who's out back?" I asked, even though I probably already knew who was in the backyard.

"Seth, Collin, and Brady."

Yep.

"Is Melody inside?"

"Yeah, along with Mrs. Clearwater, Paul and that Sam guy."

"Sam's here?"

Dudley frowned at the present in his hand as it made no noise. He moved to the bigger one and choked on a laugh at the sight of a drawn on Jared and Paul. "Yeah, he's been hanging around lately."

"Hmm," I reached down to ruffle Dudley's hair and then snatched the gifts out of his hands. "Go hang out with the boys, I'll put these inside where you can't get to them."

He scowled at me and turned to walk back around the house. Just as I was opening the screen door he swiveled around and said, "Hey, Fin, what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?"

My face grew puzzled. I shrugged. "Not sure, bud. What?"

"El-if-i-no." He grinned and shot around the corner.

"An el-if-i-no, where does he come up with these things?" I chuckled to myself.

I opened the screen door and, without even knocking, opened the front door and walked in the house. The sounds of two women chatting in the kitchen caught my attention. I started in that direction, setting Dudley's presents on the dining room table with the rest of them as I entered the kitchen.

"Finley!"

I was pulled into a tight hug and I wrapped my arms around Melody Wilkie without hesitation. I was a couple inches taller then her, but my head still bent to rest on her shoulder as she rubbed my back. She smelled like peanut butter cookies. Always had and probably always would. I loved that smell. She pulled away from me and gave me a motherly smile.

"I see Dudley's already given you his greeting," she pat at the back of my shirt.

"Yep, little turd's going to get it some day when he least expects it."

"Make sure you give it to him good, he's been causing absolute chaos at my house whenever he's over."

I smiled at the other woman leaning against the counter. "Hey, Sue. I'll be sure to do just that. How's Leah?"

Sue Clearwater sighed and rubbed her forehead. "She's doing fine. Still not taking the break up very well."

"It's been a few months hasn't it?" Melody asked as she opened the fridge and dug through the food.

"Yeah," I said. "I figured she'd be over it by now."

Sue rolled her eyes. "You'd think that, but they were together for quite a while."

Melody pulled a chocolate covered cake from the fridge while saying, "That's true. You can't get over love with just a snap of the fingers. It doesn't work like that."

I heaved myself up onto the empty counter space next to Sue and reached around the woman to dip my finger into the frosting on the cake. Melody scowled at me and I grinned around my finger while sucking on the chocolate.

"I heard Sam's here? Is he doing ok?"

Melody and Sue exchanged a look before Sue said, "He's doing quite alright."

And that was it. Nothing more. I watched them curiously as they bustled around the kitchen, giving finishing touches to certain food dishes. I heard no other sounds in the house other then their small amount of chatter.

"Where's Paulina at? Shouldn't he be in here helping you?"

Melody smiled at the nickname. "Don't let him hear you calling him that. He's got a new one for you too."

"Ooo, does he? Can't wait to hear it. Now where is he? I'm feeling the need to bug someone."

Sue leaned backwards from cutting up the pizza she had just pulled out of the oven to look into the living room. "Him and Sam were just watching TV. Guess they must have gone outside at some point."

I frowned. I guess I'll ask the boys then.

"Maybe I'll go harass the rugrats instead."

"Please do. Keep the little buggers busy with jokes or something," Melody suggested. She rinsed her hands off after dicing up tomatoes and then started drying her arms with a dish towel. "I heard from Dudley that they all have some new pick up lines they wanted to try out on you."

Sue shook her head. "I don't understand those four, trying to hit on a girl much older then them."

I laughed. "They're not flirting with me. They're basically asking what pick up lines would work and which ones will get them slapped. It gives them some practice to try them out on me."

Melody giggled and Sue rolled her eyes. I slid off the counter and turned towards the back door.

"I'd better go see what they've got. See you guys in a little while."

The second I stepped outside I had a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and a tanned face grinning up on me.

"Well hello, Seth."

"Hi, Fin. How are you today?"

"Great, thank you for asking. How is Seth today?"

"Seth's doing absolutely amazing since Finley's gotten here."

I laughed at the childlike grin that graced his lips. Seth was an easy going kid. He was always laughing, smiling, and having a good time. No matter what the situation was, he, without a doubt, was always wearing a happy face. He was my second favorite when it came to the kids I baby-sat. Collin and Brady tied in third due to the holy terrors that they were.

Speak of the devil and _they_ shall appear. Two bodies hit Seth and I and we tumbled to the ground.

"Oh come on, guys. Can't I go one day without one of you tackling me to the ground?"

"Course not," a young boyish voice sounded from above me. "It's the best part of our day whenever you come over."

"Yeah, even you can't refuse our happiness," a second voice said, their voice cracking in the words 'refuse' and 'happiness' as they did so.

I craned my neck to look at Collin as he started giving Seth a noogie. "Collin?"

He lifted his head to look at me. "Yeah?"

"Did your voice just... crack?"

Collin's face flushed.

"Oh my God!" I squealed and tossed Brady off of me. He gave a sound of protest when he landed on his back as I pulled the other twelve year old from atop Seth to squeeze him. "You've finally hit puberty!"

Collin struggled to be released from my death hold. "Thanks, Fin. Tell the whole world why don't you."

I pulled away slightly and looked down at him. "Would you like me to?"

His dark eyes widened and his body grew rigid. "No."

"Then let me be happy for you dammit. You're finally becoming a teenager!"

"Hey!" I glanced over to see Dudley helping both Seth and Brady up. Brady glared at me and crossed his arms. "I started too! I've already got my first chest hair."

I released Collin and tried to hold in my laughter. "Really?"

"Of course. Don't you believe me?"

"Oh, I'll take your word for it. Just not when you're jealous of my congratulating Collin for _actually_ beginning puberty."

"I have too!"

"Drawing them on with a sharpie doesn't count, dude," Dudley smirked at his younger friend.

Brady shoved Dudley and the older boy almost lost his balance.

"Alright," I stepped between the two. "We don't need any fights on Dudley's birthday. Don't even start."

Dudley mumbled something to himself and I smacked him across the back of his back. "Knock it off, Duds."

I turned to a pouting Brady and bent down slightly since he was still shorter them me. I'd give it a couple months before he shot up to my height or taller. His chocolate colored eyes glared at me and I smiled sweetly at him. "Brady, don't think for one second that I don't believe you. I'd just rather have you stay the exact same as you are right now. Don't ever grow up."

Brady's angry expression slowly disappeared and he smiled at me.

"Good, now that everyone's back in a happy mood, I heard you've got some new lines for me."

All four of their eyes brightened at my words and they immediately tugged me towards the picnic table in the middle of the yard. An unfinished game of Monopoly was still set up on the dried wood and I grinned to see most of the fake money all over the grass. They'd obviously been fighting over the truthfulness of the banker, as usual. That must have been all the shouting I heard when I'd arrived.

They sat me down on the bench and then plopped down wherever there was a free spot on the other side or, in Seth's case, in the middle of the Monopoly game board.

"So, let's hear it." I waved my hand for them to start.

"Wait. Remember the rules. We tell no one where we heard the lines or ever repeat them in front of our parents. Nothing leaves this picnic table," Dudley declared.

The others quickly agreed and bumped their fists together. I rolled my eyes and followed along. I didn't really think it was necessary for that. I always shared the cute and funny ones with their mothers anyways. I knew not to even breath word about the dirty ones they sometimes heard or came up with. It would get both them _and _me in trouble.

"Alright, alright, I don't have all day, boys."

Seth took a deep breath and his first line poured out. "It's not my fault I fell in love, you're the one who tripped me!"

I nodded. "That's a good one, a little cheesy and cute, but still good. Next."

Collin took this as the initiative for him to start. "You must work at Subway, 'cause you just gave me a footlong."

I snickered at his hand motions from the Subway commercials. "I don't even want to know where you heard that one. It was funny though. Could possibly get you slapped, it just depends on the person you say it to, so be careful."

He lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. Dudley was next.

"What do you say we go back to my crib and do some math: Add a bed, subtract our clothes, divide your legs, and multiply."

I chuckled. "Once again, it depends on who you say that to. Ok, Brady, you're up."

"Yo baby, you be my Dairy Queen, I'll be your Burger King, you treat me right, and I'll do it your way."

I burst out laughing as he started waggling his eyebrows. "Seriously you guys, one of these days you're going to have to reveal your sources."

"Was that a good one then?"

"Definitely."

They eventually drifted off the subject of pick up lines and began talking about talking about a fight that had happened at school. I zoned out, staring at the tree line behind Collin. I could see movement in the trees and I strained to see what it was. A flash of brown flew past and I almost got up out of my seat to go see what it was. That's when I remembered what I was supposed to ask the four kids in front of me, so I stayed put.

"Hey, when I got here did Sam and Paul leave the house?"

Brady looked up from where he was flicking Monopoly game pieces at Collin. "Yeah. They left through the back door when Dudley came back around the house from greeting you."

"Why," Seth asked curiously.

"Yeah, why?" An older, deeper, voice asked.

I leaned backwards into someone's legs, my head resting against their stomach, and squinted up into Paul's face. "PAULINA! Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"

The darker boy unconsciously tugged at his long black hair. "I haven't been anywhere, Fish Gills," I raised an eyebrow at the new nickname and silently applauded him. "I've been nearby the whole time. Why did you need to know where I was?"

"To bug you."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"Kids! Lunch!"

I looked at the back door to Melody and saw the table was empty besides me. The four boys were already running for the door. I looked back up at Paul and held my arms up. "Help me."

"You can't do it yourself?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around my middle and pulled me up from the bench.

"I could, but since you're here, what's the point of even tryi- Are those muscles?" I pointed in surprise as I turned around to face him. "When did my little Paulina start becoming a man?"

Paul flexed his biceps. "They appeared last month. You'd know that if you came around more often."

I squeezed his arm and pinched at the hardened skin. "Jeez, did you start working out?"

He frowned and swatted my fingers away when I went to measure his arm with both hands. "That's the weird thing. I haven't."

"Hmm, interesting." I glanced around, listening to the shouts of Dudley yelling at Brady over macaroni salad. One person was missing as I listened to their voices. "Jared couldn't come today?"

"Nope," Paul started for the back door. "He's at home sick, has been for a couple weeks. His mom told me he's got mono."

"Tell him I hope he feels better the next time you see him."

"I'll try, but I haven't exactly been able to talk to him much. Now come and meet Sam."

"I have, doofus. He used to date Leah and I babysat her little brother, remember?"

Paul's eyebrows furrowed. "I remember."

"So what's he doing around here? He's not exactly friends with you and Jared, and definitely not Dudley."

"Not entirely sure, really. Mom's been letting him in the house for a while now and he's just started appearing out of nowhere lately. It's been kind of annoying actually."

We stopped just outside the open paint chipped back door. I nudged Paul's arm. "How has it been annoying?"

"He started hanging around when Jared first got sick and since then whenever he's over he just... watches me. It's like he's expecting something to happen. It's started creeping me out just a little bit."

I knew what being creeped out felt like, I had a certain vampire sneaking into my house just to watch me sleep every night. "Maybe he just wants you for those new muscles that have started popping out."

Paul growled and moved through the open doorway. "Don't even joke like that, Gills. It's not funny."

I grinned at his broad back as we walked down the hall to the noisy kitchen. "Yes it is. Just admit it. It's kinda funny."

I said this last bit as we entered the kitchen and Dudley looked up from shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. "What's kinda funny?"

I exchanged a look with Paul and stated, "That since my buddy here has gotten buff, I'm gonna have to stop calling him Paulina and actually call him Paul."

Dudley rolled his eyes. "An absolute tragedy."

I felt a pair of eyes burn into the side of my head and as I sat down at Melody's insistence, I peered through my bangs to see Sam Uley staring at me. I met his dark gaze with my lighter one and I gave a small nod. One of his hands fisted around his fork tightly and the other went up to rub at his nose. His nostrils flared and he stiffly returned my nod. He titled his head and then moved his eyes to where Paul was trying to push his younger brother out of his seat.

He'd heard what we had been talking about, I just knew it. And he knew a lot more then I did about what was going on. I could tell just by the look on his face. Eventually I was going to find out... _after_ I had a few helpings of Sue's homemade coleslaw.


	8. Books, Cakes, and Murder

**Reviews - **

**The Random Artist - **Of course Collin and Brady need to be mentioned. They may only be a part of Breaking Dawn, but they should still have some kind of part in the story. They're in the wolf pack, and that's going to be very important from the second book on.

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**Chapter Eight - Books, cakes, and murder**

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"Edward, don't do it."

"She's not even here. What she doesn't know won't kill her."

"It might not kill her, but she's going to kill _you _when she finds out."

"I'll be fine. I think I can handle a weak little human."

"I'm going to tell her you called her that."

"Emmett! Would you go away!"

"No, I need to be here as a witness."

"Well, I'm about ready to shove you out the window. Stop with the comments."

"Aw, Eddie, don't be like that. You know you love me!"

Edward threw down the pile of towels he was holding and ran his fingers through his already messy hair. Emmett leaned against the wall next to the closet, grinning.

"Why would she hide it in a linen closet?"

The bronze haired boy glared at his brother. "Since I can't smell what she's touched, I don't know where she might have put it. It could be anywhere in this house. She's smart enough to hide it somewhere I wouldn't think it would be."

Emmett nodded his head thoughtfully. "So you're just gonna tear the house apart to find it?"

Edward made a gesture with his hand over his shoulder as he continued to pull items from the closet.

"Do you mind if I cheer her on when she cuts your balls off as soon as she gets home and sees the mess?"

The response was a scathing look. Emmett held his hands up in surrender. "Fine, but if you die, and I do mean literally, then do not blame me."

The tall, burly boy whistled a tune as he walked away. His light steps guided him towards the living room where he had set up his Xbox 360. Emmett leaned down to pick up the pile of games on the coffee table. Several war games stared him in the face along with a few racing games. He quickly shuffled through the games before setting all but two back down.

"Hmm, Call of Duty or NASCAR?" He bit his lip. "If Finley were here she'd put them behind her back and and tell me to choose a number and the that would be the one we play. Gah! Why can't she be home right now?"

"It's because she's too busy chatting it up with the dogs!" A voice from upstairs chimed.

"Shut up, Edward! At least she actually has friends!"

"I have frien- Shit!"

Emmett shifted to stare up at the ceiling. He was almost afraid to ask what was found for his brother to be cursing. "What happened?"

"...Nothing."

The curly-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows before shrugging. "Racing, shooting, racing, shooting, shooting, racing," He mumbled to himself.

Emmett took a step towards the TV and heard the soft crunch of something under his foot. He squeezed his eyes shut. "Please be a chip. Please be a chip. Finley will kill me if it's anything but a chip."

He opened his eyes and looked down. There, under his foot, lay a bunched up piece of paper. Emmett breathed a sigh in relief. He held the games under his arm and reached down to pick the notebook paper up. He flattened it out to see messy handwriting in black ink all over the paper.

Several little doodles of bumblebees, flowers and butterflies littered the surface of the paper. Along with those, a half game of hangman (with the man almost completely drawn), half written words, titles of books, and the names of a few bands. In the middle of all this, was a note.

_I got bored while taking the time to actually write you a note to tell you I would be gone by the time you got to my house at noon._

"Really, I couldn't tell?"

_So just laugh it up ya big goob. Hopefully you found my other note._

Emmett paused in his reading to reach into his pocket to pull out the second note. He unfolded it and barely glanced at the phone number at the bottom of the page. He continued reading.

_If you've read it, then you know that I've gone down to the reservation for the day and probably won't be back till late. Sorry, dude, it was a last minute 'I forgot' moment. Anyways, if you're going to be moseying around my house till I get home, then there needs to be a few ground rules._

_**RULE # 1 –** Close all the curtains._

_If you can't do that (because I know some of the windows don't have blinds) then stay well away from any windowed portal that will take you to the outside world. If you do go anywhere near them, try not to sparkle all over my floor. I'm completely serious. Glitter is the herpes of the arts and crafts world, so do try to not rub it off yourself and all over the carpet._

_**RULE # 2 –** Keep Stranger Danger away from my house for as long as you can._

_If I get home and the place is a mess, someone's getting a punishment much worse then just their balls being cut off. This includes you too, big guy, because it will be your fault for letting the 100-something-year-old vampire into my home. He's not allowed in. At least not without me there to monitor what he's doing. Especially since he keeps me up all night because of his creepy stares... You really need to have a talk with him about that._

_**RULE # 3 –** Find Nibbler._

_Well, it's not really a rule, I just need you to find her. I searched everywhere she could be last night and I had no such luck. So, she's still M.I.A. One of you better have NOT eaten her! She's like my child and I really don't think either of you would like to open a can of Mama Bear Whoop Ass... Except you, Emmett, I think you'd actually like it._

"Damn it!"

Emmett finished rule number three with a grin as Edward swore on the floor above him. "What happened?"

"I found her cat."

"Really, where? Fin said in her note that she hasn't seen her for a few days."

"In her underwear drawer."

"I'm excited for you finding Nibbler and all, but... what are you doing going through her undies?"

"I'm looking for the Boogeyman. What do you think?"

"Oh. Well, did you find it?"

It was silent.

Emmett lowered Finley's note and looked up at the ceiling. "Edward?"

The sound of a window being almost silently pushed up was followed by his brother's quick light footsteps across the roof. Emmett immediately sped up the stairs using his vampire speed. His near collision with the wall made him slow down before he put a large Emmett shaped hole into the dry wall. He stepped towards the open doorway of the bedroom he was standing in front of and leaned forward cautiously.

Finley's room officially looked as if a tornado had torn through. Her mattress was up against the wall, the closet doors were thrown open and the clothes were off their hangers. All the books on her bookshelf littered the floor and the drawers to her dresser had all been pulled out.

Amongst the mess was Finley's cat, Nibbler. The tiny little brown and black animal's tail was puffed up, the hair on her back standing on end, and her mouth open in a long standing hiss towards the window. Edward was nowhere to be found.

Emmett froze and glanced down at the last rule on the notebook paper. His eyes widened in fear and his legs immediately pushed the rest of his body through the open window. The dropped page gently fluttered to the dark carpeted floor as a yell flew across the yard.

"EDWARD!"

_**RULE # 4 –** Don't let Edward anywhere near my room._

_If I find out that he was in there, major hell will need to be paid in full. The You-Know-What is hidden somewhere in there. If he finds it, takes it, and then reads it, guess what? Your Xbox is going to get crushed into a million pieces._

_Just so you know._

_Love,_

_Finley_

* * *

My eyes closed in delight at the taste of the vanilla cake frosted in chocolate. Sweet mother, if I were to only live on Melody's homemade cakes for the rest of my life I think I'd grow to be a billion pounds and die extremely happy. I forked another piece into my mouth along with a bite of ice cream covered in butterscotch. Were these people trying to kill me with an explosion of awesomeness in my mouth or what?

"Open this one next, Duds."

I wiped at the tail end of the sauce that landed on my chin. Focusing on Dudley, who was carefully pulling the wrapping paper apart on one of his presents, I rolled my eyes. For all the time that he knew me, did he learn nothing?

"Dudders, get it over with and just rip the paper. Unless it's the present I gave you, then there's no need to be careful."

Dudley took my advice and started tearing into his gift. Let's just say that paper flew. Seconds later he was brandishing the latest installment to the comic book series he was currently reading. His friends leaned in and they leafed through a couple pages excitedly.

"Cool! Thanks, Sam."

Across the room, a deep voice replied with a, "You're welcome, kid."

I peered over the mass of the four bodies lying on the floor at my feet to the person sitting as far away from me as they could get. Sam Uley wanted to sit nowhere near me. At first he had been the one taking up the couch as we waited for Melody and Sue to bring the presents into the living room. The moment I sat down next to him, he stood up and claimed he needed to use the restroom. When he came back, he sat in the extra chair on the other side of the room. The cushion next to me was still empty at that point in time.

I dipped my fork into the bowl I was holding and almost cried at the sight of the last bite of cake. I positioned my hand towards my mouth. My hand was immediately making a detour from going in the right direction. Instead, the warm fingers wrapped around my wrist made the prongs of the fork land directly between Paul's lips.

"You really suck, you know that?"

Paul's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he licked his lips in pleasure. It was all exaggerated for my benefit.

"I hate you."

"I love you too," Paul mumbled around the large bite of chocolatey/vanilla sweetness.

I slapped him with the back edge of my fork. He winced as the metal hit the bare skin of his forehead.

"Just be lucky I'm not stabbing you with it."

"Hey, Fin! I'm opening yours next."

I quickly shoved the bowl into Paul's lap. "Here, since you ate the last piece you can go put it in the kitchen."

The tan faced boy scowled at me as I shifted to sit on the floor next to Dudley. Seth picked up the smaller of the two presents I had brought and tossed it over Brady's head and into Dudley's arms. The boy was immediately ripping the paper apart.

As soon as the newspaper was fully off the box, Dudley cut through the tape with the scissors he had been using on all his presents. He grinned happily at the sight of the duct tape wallet I had bought him.

"Finny, I love you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you do."

Dudley passed the wallet around so everyone could get a look at it. Melody was the last to hold it and she looked through all the pockets. "At least now you'll have somewhere to hold a picture of your mother. You can carry her with you everywhere you go."

I heard Paul grunt behind me. "You do know that you're talking in third person, right mom? If you don't, then that makes you craaazy."

I was only able to witness Melody throwing the wallet at her son, but not able to see it make contact with his face because he was behind me. I did get to hear it though. The sound of it smacking against his skin was wonderful.

"Move onto the next one, Duds."

Seth lifted the second present I had brought. He shifted it from hand to hand, weighing it. "Jeez, Fin, how heavy is this thing?"

"About five pounds."

Dudley reached over Brady's head and Seth set it into his hands. "What is it?"

I rolled my eyes. "You _can _open it, ya know. Just be careful of the artwork.

Sue leaned forward from her seat next to Melody. "What artwork?"

"The one that's going to be framed and put up on my wall," Dudley said proudly. He flipped the covered box over so everyone could see the drawing I had made.

"Oooo," Collin breathed. "Jared is going to go ape shit when he sees that."

I leaned around Dudley to smack him across the back of the head. "You're only twelve, don't swear."

Collin scowled at me. I gestured him closer with a finger as Dudley started gently pulling the paper away from the box. When he was close enough, I yanked on Collin's shirt collar and whispered into his ear, "At least not when the adults are around."

The young boy grinned and moved to sit back between Seth and Dudley.

"YES! It's what I've always wanted! Thanks, Finley!"

A body tackled me and I hit the floor hard.

"A giant gummy bear? That's what you've always wanted?" I heard Sue ask.

Dudley nodded as he continued to hold onto me. "She knows me so well."

I grinned up into his face. "Yep. Five pounds of blue raspberry deliciousness. It's the equivalent to 1,400 regular sized gummy bears and it has 12,600 calories for you to munch on."

"Sweet mother to all that is holy-"

"You've been hanging around Finley too much," Paul interrupted his little brother with a scoff.

"Thank you!"

Dudley began kissing every inch of skin on my face.

"Oh, gross! Dudley, knock it off!"

Amidst all this, I heard the three other boys on the floor laugh, saw Sam roll his eyes, and listened as Melody giggled while she got up to answer the ringing phone in the background.

"Somebody help me!"

I heard Paul gag. "Ugh, all this love is making me want to puke."

He got to his feet and I immediately attached myself to his ankle before he could escape. "Help me, Paulina! Quick, before he decides to shackle me to his bedroom wall!"

Dudley paused in his kisses to stare down at me. My fingers dug into Paul's leg at the look his little brother was giving me.

"If I shackled you to my wall, that would mean I could use you as my slave. Or better yet," he tilted his head to the side and waggled his eyebrows. "My sex slave."

"Oh, dear God! Help!"

Dudley pinned my legs underneath his and forced my arms to the floor, making me let go of Paul. "Come and help me, my minions. Help me and you shall be rewarded greatly."

I felt two other pairs of hands against my body. I was lifted into the air seconds later. "Guys! Come on! Stop!"

Peering off to the side, I could see Sue watching in amusement and Sam staring in confusion. No one must have told him that this kind of thing happened all the time. Paul disappeared into the kitchen and Seth was the only one not helping Dudley in his quest to get me to his bedroom. Then again, he wasn't helping _me_ either, and that was just as bad.

"Seth, if you don't help me-"

"What are you gonna do," Brady grinned down at me as he lifted my torso higher. "You're going to be tied to Dud's wall. You're not going to be able to do anything other then sexual favors."

I squeaked as Collin pinched the skin on my right shin. Where was a responsible adult when you needed one?

"Ok guys," I tilted my head backwards and Melody appeared upside down as she came back into the room. One hand was on her hip while the other held the house phone to her ear. "You need to let Finley go now, she's got a phone call."

I was instantaneously dropped to the floor as this was said. I groaned as my back landed on two pairs of feet.

"Who is it?" Brady asked.

"Yeah, who's callin' my girl at _my _birthday party?"

I rolled my eyes and extended my hand for the phone. "The only person I gave your phone number to is a friend from Forks."

Seth took this moment to leap onto my stomach and lean over me. "Is this friend of yours a _boy_?"

I said nothing as Dudley's mother handed the phone down to me.

"Ooo! It is a boy. Is it your boyfriend?" Collin peered around Seth's head to smirk at me. The way his voice cracked in the middle of the word 'boyfriend' had me struggling not to laugh.

"No, now go away." I put the cordless phone to my ear. "Hello, this is the Master of Destruction speaking, how may I help you?"

_"Finley, that seriously does not help my case one bit."_

I slapped away Seth's finger as it ran across my face. "Emmett? What did you do? What happened?"

From across the room, I could tell Sam's body had stiffened. It was silent for a brief second on the other side of the line. _"We have a big problem."_

"What kind? Did you miraculously find the master of hide-n-seek, that would be Nibbler, and need help getting her down from a tree?"

"Nibblers missing? And lost in a tree?" Dudley shoved Seth sideways and the fourteen-year-old held onto my shoulders to keep from falling over. "What did you do to her!"

"Nothing, Duds, now go away. Can't you see I'm having a conversation? And a serious one at that."

"Not when it involves my little love bug."

"Keep going, Em. What happened?"

_"Can I just say right now, please don't hurt my Xbox."_

I froze. "What did you just say?"

The boys around me went silent at my tone of voice. I could see Sam out of the corner of my eye. He looked about ready to jump to his feet and take off running. Paul appeared from the kitchen holding the bowl I had handed him not ten minutes earlier. He was scooping cake into his mouth as he watched me curiously. I sat up, Seth still holding onto my shoulders and his legs straddling my thighs.

Emmett hadn't said anything.

"What did you say, Emmett? Please tell me it's not about what I think it's about."

_"Edward'sgotthebook-" _That was all he was able to get out.

"Your Xbox is officially dead. You better meet me at the edge of Forks before I decide to do something even worse," I hissed at him through the phone.

Without waiting for a reply, I hit the off button. I handed the phone to Dudley, who was surprisingly silent. I tried to keep calm as I gently nudged Seth off my lap and got to my feet.

"Who was that, Finley?" Sue asked from her place on the love seat.

"Oh, just someone that needs to be beaten. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go murder someone."

* * *

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	9. I'm Nowhere Near A Happy Camper

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**Chapter Nine - I'm nowhere near a happy camper**

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Ever since I had pulled up to where Emmett was standing on the side of the road, all he had done was try to apologize. The first words he had muttered out in a jumbled mess when he opened the door was, "Sorrysorrysorrysorry!"

My response?

"Emmett, just shut up and get in the car. If you don't knock it off then your hand is going to be shoved in a blender and pureed."

I was not in the mood to be any sort of happy, smiley, excited camper. No, _I _was the camper that came home with thirty mosquito bites, my body filthy head to toe, and was extremely exhausted due to no sleep because of the scary sounds of the night.

Ten minutes later and he was still trying to wedge a word into the stone slab of silence surrounding us.

"Finley, I-"

"Don't."

"But-"

"_No_."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see him angle his body towards me as he hesitated to speak again. My knuckles turned white from grasping the steering wheel tightly and I took a deep breath to settle myself down. Emmett's shoulders tensed at my fast breath, expecting me to start yelling at him.

"We found Nibbler."

My eyes flickered from the road to his large frame crowded against the door. My thoughts immediately went to my poor little kitten. He could see the worry in my face and he relaxed slightly.

"Where was she hiding?"

"In your dresser."

I slowly nodded. "She probably crawled from underneath to the back and then climbed up. Is she okay?"

Emmett looked relieved at my calm tone of voice. He shifted away from the door and closer to me. "She didn't look too happy. Edward must have caught her while she was sleeping when he pulled the drawer out."

I flinched and my fingers clenched around the steering wheel tighter. "Edward found her?"

"...Yes."

I stayed silent for a moment, my foot letting off on the gas to match the speed limit as we entered town. "My house is a mess, isn't it?"

The teen didn't say anything and that was all it took to get my answer.

"Vampire or not, he's going to get his ass beat."

The next seven and a half minutes were spent ignoring the large male to my right. We passed by residents soaking up the scarce sunshine and the small shops easily enough and I picked up speed as we left town. The trees got more dense the further we got from Forks and the green blurred together beyond my open window. Emmett fidgeted uncomfortably and I spoke before he could spout out another apology.

"You're gonna have to tell me where to turn."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you know where to go already?"

I rolled my eyes in frustration. "Just because I read the book doesn't mean I know where I'm going. Exact directions weren't given. It just said there was a hidden driveway that most people never see. If Bella could barely see it, then how do you expect me to? I don't know everything, Emmett, I'm not a freakin psychic like your sis-."

"You just missed the turn."

"Sonuvabitch!"

I slammed on the brakes and made an illegal U-turn. Thankfully, there were no cars in either direction as I turned the car around. Stopping in the middle of the street, my eyes searched the trees on the left side of the road. Emmett lifted a hand to point out where the dirt road began.

Turning the wheel, I gave him an irritated look. "You could've told me it was coming up."

"I figured you'd be more mad if I interrupted your rant."

I gave an indifferent shrug. "Probably."

Mere minutes later we were pulling up in front of a large house. The curtain-less glass walls caged the bottom floor in, leaving it to feel open even from where I was staring from inside my car. I could see a brown haired woman skirting past a window upstairs and I recognized the form as Esme Cullen.

The second Emmett inched his door open a small, pale body covered in designer clothing was there dragging him out of the car. The door smacked shut and he was slammed into the side of my Suburban.

"My car!" I cried out, horrified at the sound of the hardened vampire body crushing the metal.

My words were unheard as the angry voice of Alice Cullen yelled over mine. "Emmett McCarty! What did you do? _I can't See anything_! "

The car shook as Alice pulled Emmett forward by the front of his shirt and smashed him back into the passenger side door. I rushed for the door handle so I could get away from the car and out of harms way. Pulling on the handle, I whined as the door stuck. The Suburban rocked once again as the small teen shoved her brother into my car.

"What do you mean _'What did I do'_? I didn't do anything!" Emmett answered, not even bothering to block Alice's attacks. She wasn't too intimidating compared to him. The top of her head barely came up to Emmett's chest.

"That's the whole point!"

I leaned away from my door and used both feet to kick at it. Now was not the time for it to be it's stubborn self and lock me in like it did from time to time. Usually I'd be able to get it open with a hard shove, but it was just not opening. The next time Alice pushed against Emmett the whole right side of the car lifted off the ground. I shrieked as the tires crashed back to the driveway and I was tossed backwards onto the seat. I take back what I said; she's hella frightening.

"At least wait till I get out of the car to kill him!" I yelped.

Scrambling for the open window away from the danger, I hastily pulled my upper body through it and fell the rest of the way out. I hit the ground hard, groaning as my shoulder bashed into the driveway.

"As soon as Edward got his hands on that book I haven't been able to See anything! Nothing! Not you, not Edward, no one! You've ruined everything!"

"How is this my fault!"

I struggled to stand, hissing as my shoulder protested at the movement.

"Because you were the one who was supposed to make sure Edward never got a hold of the-"

I didn't hear the rest of Alice's words due to the eighteen wheeler slamming me into the ground. At least I thought a semi had hit me. The scraping of metal against the driveway made itself known and a loud crash in the trees off to my left echoed through my ears along with the creaking of wood as said trees snapped in half.

A person was hunched over me, their long caramel-colored hair brushing against my cheeks and forehead as they worriedly peered down at me. It took a moment for a haze of pain to pass through before I could tell who was above me.

"Mrs. Cullen?"

Her fingers ran down the sides of my body as her eyes quickly examined me for any injuries. I must've sounded pitifully weak, because the look she gave me was more tender then I was used to receiving. "Yes, Sweetheart?"

I gasped at the pain radiating beneath the skin of my shoulder. "Please tell me that wasn't my car."

Her sympathetic eyes gazing down at me was the last thing I saw before passing out.

* * *

When I was a kid I could never handle pain easily. My older cousin accidentally pushed me out of the tree in my backyard when I was nine and I screamed bloody murder all the way to the emergency room. It wasn't until the pain meds kicked in that I finally dulled my screams down to a low whimpering. As I got older I was able handle more and more pain before it got the point where it became too excruciating.

I crashed and burned on a skateboard – it was during my _Loser_ phase as my mother called it – when I was twelve and gave myself a concussion when I ran headfirst into a car down the street. The second time it happened I broke my wrist and had to wear a cast for six weeks. The third time I crashed I ripped the skin right off my right thigh. My mom took my skateboard away from me after that.

Entering into my teenage years I didn't get hurt as much as I did when I was younger. Sure, I stubbed a toe here and there, tripped going up the stairs, and almost cut the top of my thumb off while chopping an onion, but I pulled on my big girl panties and suffered through what was all my fault anyways.

The pain I was feeling when I woke up from my little nap, however, was a little worse then a shortly timed bleeding big toe. My shoulder was on fire while the rest of my body ached. The pounding in my head rivaled that of a nail being hammered into my skull. The shouting match going on nearby didn't help it one bit.

Their words were fuzzy, but I could tell the difference between Emmett's deep baritone and Alice's high soprano. _B__oth of them really needed to shut their mouths before my head exploded._

It went silent. I hadn't noticed it until now, but cool fingers were brushing over my scrunched up brow and smoothing the skin there. I moved my head towards the caress and was instantly snapping my eyes open as the pain in my shoulder jerked me wide awake.

Both Alice and Emmett were standing over where I was laying, their faces much closer then I wanted them to be.

"Are you okay-"

"Finley, I'm so sorry-"

"Where does it hurt-"

"Tell me you're going to be okay-"

"Say something, please."

"..._Ow._"

Emmett cringed back while Alice only huddled closer. The hand on my forehead disappeared and instead gently nudged Alice backwards. I looked to the up to see that my head was currently in the lap of one Esme Cullen.

"Now, get back, Alice. She's just been through a traumatic experience-"

"You can say that again," Emmett muttered under his breath. His eyes were focused on the way I was currently trying to push myself further into Esme's embrace.

"She just needs a little air."

"And an examination from Carlisle as soon as he gets home," the deep southern drawl had me twisting to see who had spoken. Jasper was leaning against the wall across the room, his arms crossed across his chest and his honey blond hair more crazy then usual. Rosalie stood next to him, her stance suggesting anything but relaxation. Her usually immaculate clothes were dirtied and her hair ruffled. They must have been the ones to pull Alice and Emmett apart.

"Yeah, I mean, we all heard the crack when you hit her, Esme," Rosalie was inspecting the nails on her left hand as she said this. Her eyes only flickered my way once.

I eventually registered what the blond had said. "Crack? As in broken bones cracked?" I peered up at Esme fearfully. "My mom said she'd kill me if I broke any more bones before I turned twenty."

It was the truth. After breaking a few of my toes by getting them run over by a motorbike – seriously, don't ask – she told me that she'd kill me herself if I broke any more. She even hinted at a few ways that only those in the medical field would know how to accomplish. Ones that would either make you bleed out torturously slow or put an end to life _very_ quickly. I'd asked her what technique she would use on me and she told me it depended on the mood she would be in. After having that discussion, I never wanted to break a bone ever again.

Rosalie gave an unladylike snort. Jasper jabbed his elbow into her side and she winced slightly. "What? She's afraid of her mother killing her over a broken bone and yet we – a bunch of blood thirsty vampires – are standing in the room with her and could attack her at any given moment."

"We won't," Alice quickly insisted.

"I thought you said you couldn't See anything, Alice?" Emmett asked. He took a step back from the couch Esme and I were seated on and crossed his arms over his chest.

Alice danced toward me and traced the side of my face with a dainty finger. "I'm getting a few flashes. Not too many, but enough to know that we're not going to hurt her. Not even you, Jazz."

If I were looking close enough, which I obviously wasn't, I would have seen the relief briefly cross Jasper's face before completely disappearing.

I tilted my head against Esme's thigh and winced as my headache gave a particularly painful jolt. "How long have I been out?"

"A little over ten minutes," Esme answered. "Jasper called Carlisle while I got you situated so you wouldn't be in too much pain."

"He should be here soon. He said he was going to finish up with the patient he was in the middle of examining and he'd be right home." Jasper pushed off the wall to grab a hold of Alice as she made to approach me again. He pulled her into his side and held her near the arm of the couch my feet were resting on.

"Any idea where Edward is?" I cautiously asked. "Or is he still..."

"AWOL?"

"Unaccounted for?"

"Missing?"

"A no-show?"

I broke in before Jasper or Emmett could list off anymore synonyms. "Yeah, that. So, is he?"

Alice sighed, her eyes waiting for some sign of another shock of pain to run across my features. "No, not yet."

"Damn," I groaned. "Ok, I need to get up and you need to go look for him."

I made to sit up and Esme reached around my shoulders to steady me. Alice moved to help me but Jasper held her back, Emmett winced at the sound of a whimper crawling up my throat, and there was a moment of sympathy from Rosalie before cold indifference overcame all other emotions

As soon as I was sitting up on my own, my right arm being cradled gently on Esme's lap so it wouldn't be jerked, I glanced around the room at the standing vampires. "Well, go look for him."

Alice squirmed out from under Jasper's grasp around her waist and sat down beside me. "I've been trying to find him ever since everything disappeared. I've only been able to see a few glimpses of the future. Nothing major, nothing extremely important, and none of it Edward."

I ran the hand of my uninjured arm over my face. "Shouldn't you guys be out there," I gestured outside beyond the window. "Looking for him then? Because as soon as he's finished reading that book, life as we know it will be blown all to hell. We could all possibly die!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rosalie roll her butterscotch ones. "Oh, please. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"Sure, you say that now, but just you wait." I took in a shallow breath and slowly turned to Esme. "By the way, before I forget, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Cullen."

Esme's smile immediately brightened the room. "If only it were under different circumstances."

"Obviously," Emmett grumbled.

"So," I started in the awkward silence. "What'd you do to my car?"

Alice admitted with embarrassment that she had thrown Emmett into my Suburban a little more roughly then she had intended to. Both Emmett and the vehicle were thrown backwards to the tree line. The roof of my car scraping across the driveway and Emmett smashing into the trees was what I had heard before passing out. Apparently the car was totaled.

"I hope you know you're paying for it to be fixed," I boldly stated.

"We'll just buy you a new one!" Alice wriggled on the seat next to me. Just the prospect of shopping, even for a car, had her excited.

"If it weren't for the sentimental value, I'd totally be saying yes. But it was my mom's car, so it's gonna have to be a no."

"We'll make sure to get it fixed and ready to be driven by the time your parents get home next weekend from their conference."

I jumped, startled at the new voice coming from the entryway to the front hall. Carlisle emerged, his dark coat still on and his medical bag in hand. Alice hurried to her feet and settled against Jasper once again. The doctor came closer and he set his bag down on the floor near my feet.

"How are you feeling, Finley?" He asked me as he briskly shrugged his coat off and handed it to Rosalie to hang up.

I raised an eyebrow. "I got body slammed by your stone cold fox of a wife, how do you think I feel?"

I heard Emmett choke out, "She's fine!" from behind Carlisle's grinning face. Alice giggled into Jasper's chest and Jasper laughed lightly. The arm around my upper back squeezed gently and I smiled at Esme.

"Well, you seem to be talking fine. I'm going to assume your ribs aren't broken?"

I shrugged. "The main problem is my shoulder. Hurts every time I even think about moving it."

Carlisle nudged his wife out of the way and he promptly took her place by my side. He let my hand rest on his knee while he stared at my eyes. He pulled a small pen light from his pocket and shined it into both of my pupils. I squinted my eyes at him.

"Just making sure you don't have a concussion."

"I know. I got a concussion when I was twelve and had another one again when I was fifteen. Ran into a car the first time and then a mailbox the second."

Carlisle nodded. "Seems you hurt yourself quite a bit."

"Nah," I hastily shook my head, my eyes closely due to the pounding headache gaining more ground.

He tilted his head and gave me a dissatisfied look as he prodded at my shoulder. "I've seen your file, Finley."

I struggled to not say anything that didn't pertain to my medical file. It didn't happen.

"Did you know that energy is being wasted if a toaster is left plugged in after use?"

"Completely off topic," Carlisle readily replied while lightly rotating my shoulder.

I saw Rosalie raise an eyebrow over his shoulder. "We don't even use a toaster, let alone leave it plugged in. Where did that come from?"

Emmett shuffled to her side and threw his arm around her waist. "It's best you don't ask, babe."

After a strong spasm through the right side of my body, I jerked my arm out of Carlisle's grasp. "Ouch!"

"I apologize, Finley, but it seems that your shoulder is dislocated."

"Seriously," I asked incredulously. "How can you even tell?"

He pointed to my shoulder without touching me. "See that bump right there."

I turned my head in an attempt to see what he was talking about. "Yeah, I see it."

"That's your shoulder out of it's socket."

I stared at it for a moment. "That's kinda cool. A total pain in the ass, but completely cool. Never had that happen before."

Jasper released Alice and walked to stand in front of me. "What about the crack we all heard, Carlisle?"

"Yeah, doc," I worriedly started. "Is my mom gonna have to kill me or what?"

Carlisle shot Esme a questioning look. The one she returned indicated that she'd tell him later.

"Along with your dislocated shoulder, you've got a broken collarbone."

"Damn it," I moaned. "Don't even bother fixing my shoulder Dr. Cullen."

"How about I fix your shoulder and not tell your parents about your injuries until they get home? We'll pay for the car and any other damage that may occur in the future."

I blankly stared at the older man, waiting for something a little more fulfilling. Emmett leaned forward and hissed out of the corner of his mouth, "Tell her we'll buy her food and do her homework for a week."

Carlisle turned sharply towards his adopted son. "Emmett-"

"Just do it."

The blond male turned back to me hesitatingly repeated, "We'll buy all your groceries and Emmett will do your homework for a week."

I met his steady gaze with a critical look, not listening to the giant behind him as Emmett obviously disagreed. "You don't even know why I don't want you to fix it and yet you draw up a hard bargain. Make the homework a month and we have a deal."

Emmett made to protest but Carlisle interfered. "Deal."

Ten minutes later I had the handle of a wooden mixing spoon between my teeth so I wouldn't bite my tongue, Emmett was holding my legs down and Jasper was gripping my unhurt shoulder tightly. Esme was distraught and making a hole in the floor by pacing back and forth across the room. Rosalie nonchalantly sat on the love seat off to my left and Alice was frozen in the middle of the room, her eyes blank.

Half a second before Carlisle moved to push my shoulder back into place, Alice raised her arm out and shouted, "Carlisle! It's Edward! He's-"

Just as soon as the doctor had shoved my shoulder, Edward Cullen was standing in the middle of the room. His tall, lithe form dwarfed Alice's dainty one, twigs and leaves littered his wild bronze hair, and the bottom of his dark blue shirt was torn. In his right hand was the novel my mother had bought me. He did not look happy.

Sucking in a gasp around the spoon, I tried to contain the scream itching its way up my throat. Dislocating your shoulder was _never _a good thing for your health. Neither was jeopardizing your life by hanging around vampires. Take it from me, folks, just stay at home for the rest of your lives.

My stomach lurched as the pain hit its all time high before finally dulling down. I wearily gazed up at Edward as Jasper let go of my shoulder and Emmett quickly stood up. Carlisle cautiously moved to shield me from his son.

Edward launched himself at me with one swift dive. Esme gasped loudly as Emmett and Jasper caught him just as the tips of his fingers touched my throat. Something that was a mix between a sob and a whimper emerged from my mouth as I pushed myself back as far as I could into the couch.

"Do you think this is a game? This is my family's lives you are messing with!"

His words were a bunch of garbled nonsense that I didn't understand.

"Edward, son, you need to calm down. Now!" Carlisle's authoritative tone made Edward stop trying to reach for me.

Jasper and Emmett kept their hands on either of his shoulders as he threw the leather bound book at my chest. Alice vaulted forward to catch it just in time before it hit its mark. She sat down on the edge of the cushion next to me and I forced myself not to hide behind her. Edward was terrifying when in an outrage. Why did that anger have to be cast towards me? I didn't write the freakin' book.

"Edward," Esme moved in front of him to block me from his sight. She raised a hand and softly cupped his cheek. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Edward shrugged off Emmett and Jasper's hands. "What's the problem? She wasn't being entirely truthful when she said that that book was written about us."

Every single vampire in the room swiveled their heads to look at me. The urge to hide behind tiny little Alice grew stronger.

He jabbed his finger in my direction. "She lied. She found out about us and made the whole story about Bella up. There's nothing even written in that damn journal!"

My eyes widened. "Don't you dare call me a liar! I've never lied in my entire life." I thought about those times where I snuck a few extra chocolate chip cookies after dinner behind my parents' backs when I was younger. "Ok, I take that back. I have lied before. But never about something as serious as this."

Carlisle calmly reached out for the book Alice was cradling in her palms. As soon as he had it beneath his fingers she shifted back against the couch. She picked my hand up and held it between both of hers to try to sooth my nerves.

I clenched my fingers around hers tightly. "That's impossible. Every single page is full of Bella's thoughts and actions-"

All of my other words managed to lose themselves somewhere between my brain and my mouth as I watched Carlisle flip through the _empty_ pages of the diary. His gaze flickered between me and the book when he did it for a second time. He paused halfway through, leafing backwards a few pages. He frowned down at the paper.

"It's not empty."

Everyone edged closer. Even Rosalie had stood up to see what was written.

"It's a date for Monday. And some kind of quote along with a few initials."

After everyone except Alice and I had glimpsed the words written on the page, I held my hand out for the book. Edward didn't look so good after reading the short paragraph. Carlisle silently handed it to me. I shared a glance with Alice before resting my eyes on the weathered paper.

_Monday the 20th  
__For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind.  
__~Bella Swan~  
__~S.M.~_

In smooth free flowing script, was one of Bella's thoughts on her first day at Forks High School. And it was dated for the beginning of next week. Everybody stood silently, and I could see the roots of Edwards thoughts beginning to take place. The ones where he went through every known possible explanation for the words. Nobody spoke for a full sixty seconds.

"During World War II, condoms were used to cover rifle barrels from being damaged by salt water as the soldiers swam to shore."

That is until I filled the damaging silence with my psychobabble bullshit.


	10. We Definitely Have Some Major Problems

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**Chapter Ten - We definitely have some major problems**

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I'm sure everybody's heard the saying, "After Monday and Tuesday even the calender says WTF." It was a fact of life. But what the calender really should have been saying was, "After a WTF week, there's Serious Saturday and Shitty Sunday _because of there being no kitty to cuddle with!_"

My weekend was supposed to consist of staying the night at the Wilkie house and gorging myself out on the rest of the cake and ice cream with the guys. We'd play some stupid boardgames before getting bored and deciding to go TP somebody's house. We would play pranks on Paul, and then someone would be hurt by the time we finally went to bed at four in the morning. Sunday I would drive home with only minimal damage to my car as I struggled to stay awake while trying to get there. The first thing I'd see when I opened the door would be Nibbler and we would spend the day cuddling on the couch and eating nothing even remotely healthy.

Instead of doing the things I love, I was forced to stay Saturday night in the Cullen household listening to Rosalie bitch and moan about there being a human sleeping in her room. It's not like I wanted to be anywhere near the bed where Emmett and her got freaky between the bedsheets, but I didn't want to intrude on Esme and Carlisle or Alice and Jasper. They'd already been too nice. And there was no freaking way I'd sleep on Edward's couch, not after the hell he put me through. He completely agreed, knowing I'd probably rather trash his room then sleep in it. And so Emmett offered, Rosalie glared, and I got to sleep on a King sized, Egyptian cotton sheeted, comfortable bed. I delightfully slept the most satisfying sleep ever in that nine hour period.

To hell with them having sex in the bed, I was taking the damn thing home with me. Sheets can be washed, can't they?

Sunday was spent lazing about as Esme cooked my meals and kept me company most of the day. Carlisle had to work, but said he'd be home no later then six to give me the sling that I'd have to wear for the next few months.

I readily complained about the sling and Esme listened wholeheartedly while agreeing with me the entire time. I think she did it just to shut me up.

Jasper took my car to Port Angeles to a mechanic. I had sullenly watched from the window as the powder blue Suburban was towed away and out of sight. I made sure to tell him that it better be the exact same as it was before it was totaled. That included the dent on the right front fender from where my mom 'nudged' a pole and the scratch on the drivers side door from where I'd accidentally keyed my own car.

Rosalie stayed upstairs for most of the day. I assumed she didn't want to be anywhere near me after I watched her storm up the stairs with a can of Febreze. I don't think she liked the scent of Finley Weston on her bed.

I argued about not being able to go home. Edward and Alice were there for over four hours Sunday morning cleaning up the mess the former had made. The pixie-ish girl told me every tiny little detail of what she saw and cleaned up. It infuriated me to know that Nibbler was scared out of her wits the entire time he was in the house and hid under the couch the whole time.

All I wanted to do Sunday night was snuggle with my kitty, watch Comedy Central, and maybe fall asleep on the couch because I was too lazy to drag myself to my bedroom. My night didn't go the way I wanted it to.

Carlisle came home with my sling. It was a gaudy blueish gray that looked like anybody with a lick of fashion sense wouldn't go near with a ten foot pole. I loved it. Alice didn't. I spent the night cuddling the canvas sling instead of my kitten while Alice sat at the end of the bed waiting for me to fall asleep so she could steal it from me. I attempted to stay up as late as I could so that that wouldn't happen.

I failed.

_Epically_.

I fell asleep with a plain sling and woke up to a _sparkly_ one.

"Do I have to wear this?"

Emmett glanced into the rear view mirror to see me fiddling with the strap of the sling. "Alice said that if you got your hair wet or took that sling off she'd kill me. So yes, you have to wear it."

I cringed at the mention of my hair. She'd gotten a hold of the rats nest on my head while I was still too sleepy to fight her off. My copper-colored hair was now sporting long, shiny, straightened locks. I was also adorning a pair of jeans so tight I could barely move in them and a blue shirt that she said made my eyes 'pop'. Whatever that meant. Apparently I was Rosalie's size so I was wearing her clothing. I made a mental note to take a shower as soon as I got home to get her icky germs off of me.

"Just remember, Emmett, I haven't crushed your 360 yet."

He tensed. "Maybe we'll just conveniently forget the umbrella when we get to school."

"I like the way you think."

"And so does his Xbox," Jasper spoke up for the first time since getting into the jeep.

Alice had _insisted_ that I ride with Emmett and Jasper in the jeep while her and Rosalie kept Edward company in his silver Volvo. I didn't hesitate to say the obvious yes that was left hanging in the air.

Emmett followed along after Edward, slowing as we entered town. I glanced out beyond the cover over the jeep and caught sight of several teenagers trudging through the rain to reach the school. They all lived within walking distance of Forks High and I bet they were all glad they had invested in the umbrellas they were holding.

"So, are you ready for the big day ahead of you?" Jasper stared out the window as he asked.

Emmett flicked his blinker on and came to a stop behind the Volvo as he waited for a few cars to turn into the school parking lot. "Do you have everything?"

"Books?" Jasper continued.

"Lunch money?"

"Homework?"

"Clean underwear?"

I rolled my eyes and pat the hard cover of the journal through the material of my messenger bag. "I've got everything I need right here. And shouldn't you guys have asked that before we left the house?"

They both shrugged at the same time as the jeep pulled into a parking spot next to where Alice was throwing open the back door of Edward's car. Edward immediately disappeared into one of the school's buildings while Rosalie calmly waited next to Alice under a pale lavender umbrella. Jasper jumped out of the car and pulled the seat forward so I could do the same. He gently took my book bag from me and then held a hand out to help me down. I took the offered hand and struggled to not bump my right shoulder against the interior of the jeep.

"Emmett needs a new car," I mumbled, the top of my head skimming the roof.

"It's great for days with sunlight because you can take the top off," Alice was suddenly there, her fingers tight around the handle of a pink umbrella. "But not so great during rainstorms."

"Oh, really," my sarcastic comment slipped out before I could stop it. "I hadn't noticed."

Alice smile was bright as Jasper finished helping me to the ground and I released his hand. I scanned the parking lot, looking for the large rust bucket that would indicate Bella Swan was real. So far it was left unseen. I spun back to Alice just a she held the umbrella out for me to take.

I stared at her impassively. "Seriously?"

She nodded enthusiastically and jiggled the handle towards me. I flinched backwards and she stepped forward so I wouldn't be in the rain. "I don't do pink."

"Take it, Finley."

"You do know that I'll just lower it and get my hair wet, right?"

She nodded before reaching for Emmett as he tried to scurry past her from behind. He jerked backwards so fast it almost looked like he was clotheslined. Alice pushed the umbrella into his hands and then shoved me toward him before the rain could hit my hair. Both Emmett and I scowled at Alice. Me because of the whole hair deal and him because he was holding a girlie umbrella.

"I don't even have my first class with her!"

Alice shrugged, all of her upper body moving up and then down before taking my book bag from Jasper and settling it over Emmett's left shoulder. "Not my problem, Emmett. Just make sure she doesn't get her hair wet."

She linked her fingers with Jasper's after he finished unfolding his own black umbrella and they both disappeared into the slow crowd of arriving kids. All that were left was me, Rosalie, Emmett, and the soft sound of rain hitting the tops of the cars as more and more entered the parking lot. Emmett and I stared after them, watching, waiting. I saw Rosalie shift so the hand not holding her umbrella was resting against a cocked hip. She was getting irritated, and fast, too.

The second Alice and Jasper turned the corner into one of the buildings, Emmett let go of the pink umbrella and let it fall to the ground upside down. Neither of us even flinched as the rain poured down and instantly soaked us to the bone.

After a few moments of chilly rain drenching my hair I turned to an equally wet Emmett. "Well, I feel better. How 'bout you?"

Emmett's grin let me know how he felt. Rosalie shook her head and stooped down to pick up the abandoned umbrella off the asphalt. She quickly closed it. "Can we go now?"

I reached for the messenger bag hanging off Emmett's shoulder, but he was pushing my hand away. He slid it off his shoulder and onto his wife's without a moment to spare.

"Here, babe, you have first hour with Fin, don't you?"

And then he was gone.

I gaped after him in disbelief. His Xbox was no longer officially safe. Rosalie glared at her husband's back as he loped off towards the Library. Her glare intensified when she looked at me. For a moment I thought she was going to reach over and snap my neck, but at the last second she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the gym. I stared after her, wondering if I should follow or not.

"Let's go, Fish Guts, before _my_ hair gets wet."

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The instant the bell rang for lunch I was racing away from the confining walls of the Home Economics class. Jasper jogged after me, his golden eyes glancing backwards at the gossiping girls behind us.

"Are they still-"

"Yes."

I looked back at them suspiciously. "You'd think they'd have better things to talk about other then my burnt cookies."

Jasper held onto my arm and steered me to the left before I ran into a door. I was still watching the girls giggle at me from behind their hands. I made a face at them and turned back around.

"Well, there was a lot of smoke, Finley."

"I know, but usually when this sort of thing happens they barely even notice. They go on with their lives pretty damn quick. But today..." I trailed off, a frown on my lips.

Jasper frowned along with me. "Today they're actually noticing you."

"Yeah. That and they wouldn't stop talking about the new girl, who we all know is Bella."

"I think we should confer with the others before we come to any sort of conclusion about what's going on."

I shook my head and stopped in the middle of the hall. The teenagers around me complained noisily, something they hadn't done when I had randomly stopped in the hallway last week. "I'm not eating lunch with you guys. It'd be weird. Besides, Alice hasn't seen my hair yet and I'd rather she didn't until the last possible moment."

Jasper's gaze hovered over my shoulder and he tilted his head as if he were listening to something. I twisted to see what had his attention.

"What are you loo-ah!"

He leaned down and wrapped an arm around my waist and physically picked me up. My feet dangled uselessly as his grip around me tightened. I leaned against his shoulder and grunted as he swiftly weaved in and out of kids towards the lunch room. "Sorry, darlin'. Alice's orders."

"Jasper, put me down! You're hurting my -owww- shoulder," I whined out.

"Just a second, Finley, and you'll be back on your feet."

I wasn't put down till we reached where the rest of the Cullens had congregated outside near the lunchroom doors. The rain had let up and there were no umbrellas in sight. I couldn't hide my hair from Alice.

She gasped at the sight of me, and as Jasper put me down, she lifted a hand to hastily run her fingers through my hair. I slapped her hands away several times but she just kept coming. I let her tackle the mess on my head.

"Who has my pain medication? Jasper's little stunt made my shoulder sore." I rotated said shoulder under Alice's working arms.

Edward slipped a hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a tiny green pill bottle. He tossed it in my direction and I didn't bother trying to catch it. Neither did any one else. It hit Alice's back before falling to the ground. The pills rattled together and it rolled away from us.

"Can't throw, Edward?" I looked at him.

"Don't know how to catch, Finley?" He gazed back at me and arched an eyebrow.

"Touché." I pulled away from Alice and stood back from the Cullen gang. "Listen, I'm not eating lunch with you guys."

"Yes, you are," Alice ordered.

I took a deep breath and forced my hands to stay at my sides so I wouldn't reach up and mess up my hair just to annoy her. "No, I'm not. I didn't eat lunch with you in the book. I'm not even _in_ the book. We cannot mess this up. If Bella sees me with you in there, then there goes the whole story."

Alice made to argue with me, but surprisingly it was was Rosalie who agreed with me. "She's right."

Everyone blinked at her in astonishment. Emmett was the only one who looked on with a proud expression on his face. I brightly grinned at the blond.

"We can't let her eat lunch with us. If we do then she'll just come back again tomorrow and the day after that. It'll be like feeding a stray cat. And eventually more of the humans will begin to eat with us just because she did."

My grin disappeared and I instead glowered.

"Oh, and she'll mess up everything in the story if we let her be seen with us while in the presence of this Swan girl."

"Thanks, Rosalie, I appreciate you sorting that out for us," I mumbled under my breath.

"No problem."

I sighed and looked at the vampires staring back at me. "Look, you need to get in there. Sit at your usual table, act like you normally do, and don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Remember, nobody knows me, 'cause I'm not real since I'm not in the book. I'm just gonna, ya know, hang. Over there."

After pointing somewhere random I wrangled my bag from Jasper, swooped down to pick up the forgotten pill bottle, and went in the opposite direction of where I had stated I would be. I ignored the calls behind me and hurried off as fast as I could. Their voices faded out and I assumed they must have entered the cafeteria to go about their daily lunch routine.

I sat down against the Biology building on the driest spot of walkway I could find. After opening the green bottle in my hand and shaking out a pain pill, I dry swallowed it. I popped the lid back on and shoved it into the pocket of my skin tight jeans. Leaning back against the brick wall, I patted my stomach as it protested to being denied sustenance from the cafeteria.

"Maybe Esme packed me something without me knowing it." I flipped open the flap to my bag and scrounged around inside before coming up with nothing but the leather bound novel. I don't know how it did it, but it stared up at me maliciously. It was being mean to me by taking up space in my bag when the precious room could have gone to a bag of chips or even a can of soda.

"I hate you," I stated as I slapped it onto the concrete next to me and groaned. "I need food. Stupid Bella, stupid Edward, stupid book. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

With each word I knocked my head against the wall behind me harder and harder. The wind slowly picked up and a gust blew through from out of nowhere. Pushing the flyaway hair out of my face, I glanced down to see the cover of the journal had been flicked open and the pages were flipping over and over faster then I could see. They suddenly stopped.

Even with the wind continually blowing my hair all over the place, the pages stuck as if somebody were holding them down. My eyebrows furrowed as I took in the unknown words written across the paper. My mouth dropped open and I scrambled to pick the book up. Whatever spell had been put on the sticky pages disappeared the instant I put my hands on the book. The wind flicked the paper over, my fingers acting as a bookmark while I struggled to open it back up to the right page.

Hunching down over the inky black handwriting, I never even noticed when someone approached from above.

"We have a problem."

I flung my head back to see Alice standing over me.

"Yeah, we do."

She crouched down, amber eyes glued to aquamarine. "I saw you."

I tried to mask the confusion littering my face, but it just wasn't happening. "Huh?"

Alice lowered her voice enough for me to have to lean forward to hear her. "Finley, I s_aw_ you."

I bit my lip self-consciously. "That's, uh, good. We have another problem."

"What sort of problem could be as bad as this. Me finally being able to see you isn't a good thing. Something happens between the time you arrive at school tomorrow and the time you go home because I saw-."

I glanced down at the book still sitting in my lap. Her gaze followed my eyes and they widened as they saw the words written across the pages.

"Alice, I'm in freaking the book."

Yeah, we definitely have some major problems.


	11. And The Voice In My Head Was Not Helping

**A/N - **First off, I am _**extremely**_ sorry that I haven't posted anything in forever. I've had some major (and I do mean major) writer's block, as made obvious by not posting anything in the last six or so months. Just know that I haven't abandoned this story. I'm going to continue writing it, just be aware that I'm not making any promises on getting the chapters out faster then the speed of light.

**Reviews - **

**What's The Time Mr Wolf  
My-Life-As-George  
madioooo1613  
DramaLo**

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**Chapter Eleven - And the voice in my head was not helping**

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_He hadn't been at lunch. My stomach uncurled and I started to relax a tiny bit. I had tried to listen to Jessica and Lauren as they chattered on and on about something that didn't pertain to me, but I couldn't focus. I was constantly glancing up to see if he had entered the cafeteria and my mind wasn't up to hearing about the latest fashion. _

_When I could no longer stand to listen to their rambling, I tensely got to my feet, telling them that I was heading to class. Mike immediately jumped up, insisting that he should walk with me since we were going to the same place. I allowed for him to take the lead, my eyes peering this way and that. By the time we dumped our trays and started towards the Science building, I had stopped searching for Edward Cullen's slim figure out of the corner of my eye._

_My gaze was on the floor, Mike's concentration was on his words – apparently there was going to be an upcoming trip to the beach in the near future. He nudged my shoulder with his and I smiled tightly at him as I pulled open the door and went into the building. He quickly followed, slipping his jacket off and folding it over his arm. _

_I kept my eyes to the floor, unzipping my own coat. I was vaguely aware of a female voice spouting out, "Thanks, Mr. Banner. You have no idea how much this has helped me!" before someone turned the corner and rammed right into me._

_I slid backwards onto my butt while she roughly slammed down onto her knees. I heard her groan as she fell back and seated herself against the tiled floor._

_"Damn it," I heard her mutter. "This is just what I needed."_

_I felt my face heat up at her words. She didn't look my way as she scrambled for the papers that had fallen out of her binder. I noticed she did it one handed. Her right arm was confined in one of those blueish gray slings that the doctors would give you for a broken clavicle. Only this one was bedazzled with several multicolored jewels and glitter. I briefly wondered if she had done it herself. Her copper-colored hair was piled onto the top of her head messily and she had to keep flicking her head to the side to get the long jagged bangs out of her face so she could see clearly._

_"Nice going, Bella. Jeez, you really are clumsy." I had forgotten about Mike. He chuckled at the two of us before hanging his coat on a hook just outside the Biology room door. He shook his head in amusement and entered the classroom._

_Meanwhile, the girl before me had frozen with a handful of handwritten notes in her hand. She cautiously lifted her head to look at me. My face grew warm with embarrassment as her turquoise eyes surveyed the expression on my face. Her head tilted and it reminded me of a puppy that had been talked to via baby talk. _

_"Back in 1919, the Russian transplant pioneer Serge Voronoff made headlines by grafting monkey testicles onto human males."_

_I was extremely baffled. "Uh, what?"_

_She said nothing, and instead chewed on her bottom lip as if to hold back more words._

_"Douche."_

_Again, I stared at her in surprise. Did she mean me? "Pardon?"_

_She gestured her head in the direction Mike had disappeared to. "Newton; he's a douchebag for not helping pick all of this up."_

_I warily nodded. She continued on with sliding ripped notebook sheets towards her. I reached out and helped gather them up. It was quiet while we shuffled the papers into neat stacks. Well, mine was neat. She just threw them all into a pile one right after the other, not even bothering to straighten them or put them right side up._

_After we had managed to gather all the papers, I handed her my stack. She shoved both my stack and hers into the tan messenger bag hanging against her right hip. She rubbed at her shoulder for a brief moment._

_"Are you okay?" I worriedly asked._

_She smiled at me and I had a feeling it was more sarcastic then friendly. "I'm perfect. __Absolutely awesome. Just peachy."_

_I frowned. "I'm sorry for running into you. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going."_

_She sighed and attempted to get to her feet. I quickly stood and held onto her elbow to help steady her. "Don't even worry about it, Isabella. It was just as much my fault as it was yours. I was more concerned with my paper about Quantum Mechanics then I was on walking."_

_Slowly nodding, I said, "Oh, okay."_

_I watched her tilt her head to the side once again. She was staring at me with a scowl set on her features. I stood there awkwardly, wishing I was inside my classroom instead of on the receiving end of her glower. It took a few seconds before her expression softened and she smiled. "It's not your fault, I promise. I've had a bad morning and haven't had lunch yet so I've been really bitchy today. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."_

_Now it was my turn to tell her to not worry about it, and that I'd had days just like that. As I was expressing this, I could see movement down the hall from over her shoulder. I trailed off, my eyes fixated on the large towering figure leaning against the wall by the back entrance._

_It was one of the Cullen kids. And by the large friendly grin on his face and the dark curls, this one was Emmett. His hands were slid into his jeans pockets as his left shoulder rested against the wall. He looked relaxed._

_The girl confusedly turned to see what I was staring at and she rolled her eyes. Emmett pulled one of his hands from his pocket and waved towards us._

_"Is he gesturing to one of us?" I asked her, looking behind me just in case there was somebody standing there._

_She gave me a blank look and then raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Isabella? Who else would he be waving to?"_

_"Bella."_

_"Huh?"_

_"It's just Bella."_

_She bit her lip and then mumbled something under her breath. She scratched at her nose and slowly said, "Sure..."_

_"Come on, Finster!"_

_The male voice had the both of us looking back at Emmett. He waved his hand impatiently. The girl -Finster?- looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. "Thanks for helping me pick my crap up."_

_And before I could say, "You're welcome," she spun around and hastily walked towards the large male form. She didn't stop walking, even as she approached the burly boy. She must have said something because Emmett laughed loudly as he pushed off the wall. He threw an arm over her uninjured shoulder and glanced back at me before they disappeared through the door at the end of the hall._

_I took a deep breath and rolled my head back to stare at the ceiling. Finster? Was that the elusive Finley Weston Jessica had mentioned the day before?_

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That was it. There wasn't anything else written in Bella's penmanship. I'd already read the entry six times this morning in hopes that there would be more words written upon the pages. But no, there wasn't a continuation of the girl's thoughts.

Growing more frustrated by the minute, I slammed the book closed and threw it across the room with my good arm. I grinned evilly as it hit the wall and fell into my laundry basket, resting upon the clothes I had worn the day before.

Yesterday, after being dropped off by an anxious Alice – seriously, I wasn't even allowed to finish the rest of the school day. Not that there were complaints coming from me. - I had flopped myself down onto my bed haphazardly. The rest of the day was spent staring at my ceiling and repeatedly opening and closing the book to see if there were any changes. There haven't been, just in case you were wondering.

Munching on a piece of toast, I pat at my slinged arm and unconsciously sighed. "I wish I were a tree. Then the only thing I'd have to worry about is being turned into a dictionary. How much of a bummer would that be?"

"You do know that you're talking to yourself, right?"

I lifted my head off my comforter to look at the tall blond standing in my bedroom doorway. I took another bite from my toast, and with a full mouth, said, "I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to Nibbler."

Jasper didn't even cringe at the crumbs falling onto my chest and neck like some people would have as I spoke through the toast. He stepped into my room, his right hand grasping the handles of a shopping bag. After a quick glance around the room he looked at me and tilted his head. "Where is she?"

I lowered my toast onto the paper towel on my stomach and lifted the edge of the sling still slung around my left shoulder. Nestled up against my forearm and curled into the crook of my elbow was Nibbler. Jasper shifted forward and gave a tight smile.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

I shrugged to the best of my ability. "A little, but after getting home last night I couldn't refuse her. If she could talk and had asked me to go rob a pet store for her catnip addiction, I totally would have done it."

He slowly nodded at me. After the nodding, he just stood there. Staring at me.

I blinked and glanced down. "What? Do I got something on my face?"

Smiling in amusement, he shook his head. What a liar he was. I had crumbs from my toast around my lips and all over my chest. Looking down at my kitten, I ran a finger up her nose and across her forehead. Her eyes were closed, her purr telling me she was content to be where she was. "Do you think I can sneak her into the school without anybody noticing?"

"Not a chance."

"Damn," I mumbled. Letting out a dramatic sigh, I struggled to upright myself. After fighting for three minutes with the covers across my hips, the itchy crumbs digging into the skin on my neck, and an awakening Nibbler mauling my arm as I disturbed her, Jasper was _still_ standing in the doorway. With a disgruntled look in his direction, he put the bag he was carrying down and moved to help me. As soon as I was sitting up and Nibbler was removed from my sling, I nodded at the bag next to my bookcase.

"What's with the shopping bag?"

He looked over his shoulder, walked the few feet to reach it, and then tossed it on the bed next to me. "Present from Alice."

I froze. "It's not clothes, is it?"

Jasper shrugged. "I was told that you have to find out yourself. And if you're not wearing it when we arrive at school in twenty minutes, there might be major consequences."

He left the room and I was stuck glaring at the bag leaning against my thigh. I took one look inside the plastic, yelled out, "Oh, hell no!" and rummaged through my closet for my own _comfortable _clothing.

Twenty minutes later Jasper and I were exiting Emmett's Jeep, me wearing a pair of blue plaid flannel sleep pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt. I figured my bedazzled sling was fashion enough for me. And although my hair had been thrown up into a rather messy bun without being brushed, I hoped it would live up to Alice's standards. The messy bun was in this season, wasn't it?

Glancing around the parking lot as we started towards the school, I glimpsed Rosalie's convertible a couple spaces away. None of the other Cullens were nearby. Taking another look around, my breath caught in my throat as I saw the rust colored truck across the parking lot. Staring at the truck, I managed to run into someones old Range Rover from not paying attention.

Well, I was now.

The pain in my shoulder flared up and I clutched at my arm. "Ow."

Jasper took my backpack from me, his eyes wandering to where I was still staring at the truck. "Edward's gone. He took a whiff of the new girl and decided it was best that he take off for a while." He looked down at me. "Makes it a lot more real, doesn't it?"

I numbly nodded. "Yeah... Just, can you help me to the library? Coach Clapp told me that I have the next few weeks off because of me being useless in gym class."

The blond nodded his head. "Sure, why not."

I took one step forward and tripped over the curb. "Oh, fudgebuckets!"

My day had officially started.

* * *

The rest of my morning went just as well as it first started. I spilled an opened water bottle on a poetry book in the library, got yelled at, found out I got an 'F' on a paper in English (one of my best subjects), and had no clue what in the hell we were doing in my science class. This left me missing lunch to make the trek from building to building to get to Mr. Banner's classroom.

I needed to get in and out. Bella was supposed to run into me during lunch. Maybe if I got Mr. Banner to rush through the lecture quickly then I could get out of there before Bella even stepped foot in the science building.

When I finally reached the classroom, I saw that the man had his head low as he made several marks on a paper with a red pen. He was shaking his head incredulously. I knocked on the open door to announce my presence. His head lifted and he smiled at me.

"Hello, Finley. What can I do for you today?"

I took a few hesitated steps through the doorway. "I need help."

He gestured me the rest of the way into the room and held a hand out for the thick book resting in the crook of my elbow. "Hand it over, Weston. Let's see what's giving you trouble."

After fifteen minutes of him explaining Quantum Theory to me, I gave my last, "Thanks, Mr. Banner. You have no idea how much this has helped me!" before I turned the corner and immediately slammed into somebody. A sharp pain registered in my kneecaps and I fell backwards onto my ass, trying to get my balance back. All of the papers that had been in my binder – seeing as none of them were hole punched or locked in place – scattered across the hallway. I scrambled for them, my one hand not going as fast as I wanted it to.

_I hate vampires!_

"Damn it," I muttered. "This is just what I needed."

Tossing my head back to get the bangs out of my eyes, I heard a male voice above me state, "Nice going, Bella. Jeez, you really are clumsy."

_I had forgotten about Mike._

The words hit my brain at full force.

I froze, a handful of my _Canterbury Tales_ notes between my fingers. Mike Newton chuckled at the two of us on the floor before hanging his coat up and entering Mr. Banner's classroom. I lifted my head and got my first look at Bella Swan. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment, her eyes a vibrant brown, and her hair a wavy mess. Bella considered herself rather plain in the novel. I had to disagree. She was actually kind of pretty. Ya know, for a girl.

My head tilted to the side. "Back in 1919, the Russian transplant pioneer Serge Voronoff made headlines by grafting monkey testicles onto human males."

_Oh, good lord. I can't believe you just said that to her._

Her eyes widened. She looked a little lost. "Uh, what?"

I said nothing, my teeth gnawing on my bottom lip to refrain myself from saying anything else too crazy. Instead, I almost insulted her.

"Douche."

_Shiiiiitttt!_

She started. "Pardon?"

_Quick, say something that's nowhere near anything Bella related!_

I jerked my head in the direction of the classroom next to us. "Newton; he's a douchebag for not helping us pick all this up."

_Good girl._

I barely noticed her nodding, or even helping me pick all of my notes up. My mind was racing for a way out. If I didn't get away from Bella soon, then everything I did from now on that was in the vicinity of her person was going to be recorded in the book. Maybe if I'm not nice to her then I won't become her friend and she won't want anything to do with me.

_Do you really think that will work? This is the real world, people become friends over the most inane shit ever._

She handed me her neatly stacked pile of papers and I threw them onto my own pile before shoving them into my messenger bag. My shoulder ached, the jolt from landing on my knees had jarred my injury.

"Are you okay?"

_No. I'm. Not._

I smiled at her, not feeling all that friendly at the moment. "I'm perfect. Absolutely awesome. Just peachy.

Bella frowned. "I'm sorry for running into you. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going."

_Sure. Edward Cullen can be mighty distracting, can't he?_

I sighed, attempting to get to my feet. She quickly stood, her hands reaching for my good elbow to help steady me. "Don't even worry about it, Isabella. It was just as much my fault as it was yours. I was more concerned with my paper about Quantum Mechanics then I was on walking."

_Why are you giving yourself half the blame! Blame it all on HER!_

"Oh, okay."

I tilted my head again for the second time in the last ten minutes and scowled at her.

_Woman, you better get yourself in gear. This little girl is the reason for your injury. For being stuck at the Cullen house all weekend. For not getting l-u-n-c-h! Just damn the bitch to hell already and be done with it._

_I stood there awkwardly, wishing I was inside my classroom instead of on the receiving end of her glower._

My expression softened and I smiled. "It's not your fault, I promise. I've had a bad morning and haven't had lunch yet so I've been really bitchy today. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

_No you're not._

"Don't even worry about it, I've had days just like that..." She trailed off, her eyes drifting to focus on something over my shoulder.

I twisted to see what she was staring at and rolled my eyes. Emmett was leaning against the wall by the back entrance. He waved at me.

_Couldn't he have come at a better time and not one that's only convenient to him?_

Bella glanced behind her. "Is he gesturing to one of us?"

_Is she serious?_

I gave her a blank look and an eyebrow popped up on its own accord. "Seriously, Isabella? Who else would he be waving to?"

"Bella."

"Huh?"

"It's just Bella."

_Call her Isabella. Call her Isabella. Call her Isabella. Do it! It'll piss her off._

"Yes it will," I mumbled under my breath. Scratching at my nose, I spoke loud enough for her to hear me. "Sure..."

"Come on, Finster!"

_Get him angry too. He's too damn happy all the time. Flip him off. Give him the bird. Show him your middle finger! Why are you not listening to me?_

Instead, her and I turned to look back at Emmett. He waved his hand impatiently. My eyes flicked back to Bella and I shrugged my shoulders. "Thanks for helping me pick my crap up."

I left before she could give a reply. Having spun around, I hastily walked towards the hulking figure known as Emmett. I power walked, my feet not stopping the closer I got.

"Get me the hell away from here before I do something that was never written into this scene in the book."

Emmett cracked up and threw an arm over my uninjured shoulder. I saw him glance back out of the corner of my eye, but ignored it and continued through the door that lead to the outside world.

_Finster? Was that the elusive Finley Weston Jessica had mentioned the day before?_

My first meeting with Isabella Swan sucked ass.

_You can say that again._

And the voice in my head was not helping.


End file.
